Stom  f 5e  feifirari?  of 

Qprofe66or  ^amuef  OXiflPer 

in  (gtemor^  of 

3ubge  ^antuef  (tttifPer  QStecftinribge 

^reeenfeb  6j^ 

^amuef  (ttlifPer  (grecftinribge  feon^ 

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.B83 


MEMORANDA 


/ 

FOREIGN  TRAVEL 


CONTAINING  NOTICES 


FRANCE,  GERMANY,  SWITZERLAND,  AND  ITALY. 


v^ 


BY   ROBERT    J.    BRECKINRIDGE 


PHILADELPHIA: 

JOSEPH    WHETHAM 

144,  CHESNUT  STBEET. 

1839. 


\'i  <^  4  '  -^^  >i"Ni  ^N^S*-^ 


Entered  according  to  the  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1839,  by 
Robert  J.  Bueckinridge.  in  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  Dis- 
trict Court  of  Maryland. 


BALTIMORE: 

IRINTBD   BY   MATCBBTT   AND   NEItSOKt 


ADVERTISEMENT. 


Ix  submiting  the  present  volume  to  the  public,  a  brief  expla- 
nation appears  to  be  necessary. 

The  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Chui'ch.in  the 
United  States  of  America,  appointed  the  Author  its  represen- 
tative to  certain  churches  in  Great  Britain  ;  upon  vvhicH  Mission 
he  left  his  native  country  in  the  spring  of  the  year  1836.  The 
result  of  a  portion  of  his  tour  in  Europe,  consequent  upon  that 
appointment,  is  given  in  the  followinor  patres.  As  soon  as  cir- 
cumstances will  permit,  it  is  proposed  to  issue  a  second  volume, 
on  England,  Scotland,  and  Ireland  ;  and  after  that,  a  third,  de- 
voted entirely  to  France,  especially  the  south  of  France  and 
the  general  interests  of  that  mighty  kingdom. 

Each  of  these  volumes  is  entirely  independent  of  both  the 
others ;  though  in  a  certain  sense  they  form  one  whole,  and 
were  at  first  intended  to  have  been  issued  together.  In  that 
case  the  present  volume  would  have  been  the  second  of  the 
series.  It  is  now  issued  first,  only  because  being  complete  in  itself 
and  in  a  greater  state  of  forwardness  than  either  of  the  others, 
no  sufficient  reason  for  longer  delay  occurs  to  the  author.  The 
more  especially  as  the  proper  duties  of  his  station,  of  which 
literary  employment  is  a  relaxation  and  not  a  business,  might  ia 
time  to  come,  as  in  time  past,  have  imperceptibly  lengthened 
out  weeks  of  delay  into  months,  and  months  into  years. 

Baltimore,  Sept.^  1839. 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  I. 


Entrance  into  France ;  Boulogne ;  Custom  House  ;  Courier ;  Language ; 
Houses  ;  People ;  The  Town  ;  The  Surroundmg  Country  ;  Napoleon's 
Column  ;  Mode  of  Life  amongst  the  Agricultural  Labourers,     -       -       -  t 


CHAPTER   II. 

Travelling  in  France;  French  Money;  Departure  from  Boulogne;  Public 
Agitation;  Route  to  Paris ;  Sanier ;  Moiitreuil;  Crecy;  Bernay;  Bauvais; 
Abbeville;  Face  of  the  Country;  Incidents;  Pauperism;  Harvest;  Vine- 
yards ;  St.  Dennis ;  Postillions  ;  Entrance  into  Paris,         -       -       -       -       10 


CHAPTER    III. 

Paris;  Its  Greatness;  Situation;  Beauty;  Coup  d'  ceil  of  it ;  Sabbath  Day 
in  Paris;  Sabbath  Scenes ;  Reformed  Church  in  the  Rue  Taitbout;  Ser- 
vice in  French,  and  in  English ;  Garden  of  the  Thuileiies ;  Place  de  la 
Concorde;  Champs  Elysees ;  Fete  of  the  Revolution;  Scenes  by  Lamp- 
light ;  A  Crowd  ;  The  Inauguration  of  the  Triumphal  Arch  at  Barriere  de 
Neuilly,        -,.-       =       .- ^20 


CHAPTER   IV. 

Religious  Establishment  of  Paris;  Papal  Clergy;  The  Concordat ;  Dress  of 
the  Ecclesiastics ;  Archbishoprick  of  Paris;  Nuns;  The  Churches;  Cathe- 
dral of  Notre  Dame;  A  Marriage  ;  Tiie  Ciioir;  Coronation  of  Napoleon; 
Piws  VU. ;  A  Funeral,         -       .       -        .       -       -       ^       -       -!       .       34 
1* 


VI  CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER   V. 

Goodness  of  Heart  of  the  French ;  St.  Gervais ;  Pictures  ;  A  Gem  of  Albert 
Durer :  Relics  ;  Transubstantiation ;  St.  Eustache  ;  Idolatry  of  the  Sacred 
Heart;  Baptism  of  an  Infant;  La  Madelaine;  Miracle  in  Marble;  The 
Pantheon ;  Mirabeau ;  Names  of  the  Slain  in  the  Revolution  of  July ;  St. 
Genevieve ;  Her  Miracles,  Tomb  and  Adoration ;  Private  Masses, 


PAOE. 


CHAPTER   VI. 

Religious  State  of  France,  past  and  present;  Early  Conversion  of  the  King- 
dom to  Christianity,  and  Apostacy  to  Romanism;  Influence  of  the  latter 
on  France;  Liberties  of  the  Gallican  Church;  The  Pragmatic  Sanction; 
The  first  Concordat;  General  Councils;  Former  State  of  the  Clerg)'; 
Their  Influence  upon  the  Revolution  of  1789 ;  Then  Conduct  during  its 
Progress  ;  Era  of  Popular  Infidelity  and  Disorder  ;  The  Concordat  of  1802 ; 
Present  State  of  tlie  Papal  Church  in  France ;  Open  and  General  Contempt 
of  Religion ;  Superstition ;  Bigotry,     --------56 


CHAPTER    VII. 

Departure  from  Paris ;  Our  Party  ;  Route  to  Germany  by  Su-asbourg ;  Equip- 
ment ;  Notices  of  the  Country ;  Champagne  ;  Vme  Culture ;  Agricultural 
Population;  Chateau  Thierry ;  Meux  ;  Eppernay;  Chalons;  France,  twice 
the  Preserver  of  European  Civilization,     ------- 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

Route  from  Chalons  to  the  Rhine  ;  Lorraine  ;  General  Aspect  of  the  Country ; 
Alsace ;  The  Vosges  and  Saveme  Mountams  ;  The  Western  Valley  of  the 
Rliine  ;  National  Manners  and  Employments  ;  Inns ;  Items  and  Incidents  ; 
Gf  n»r»l  Condition,  Character  and  Customs  of  tlie  People, 


CHAPTER   IX. 

The  City  of  Nancy ;  The  princely  House  of  Lorraine  ;  Strasbourg  ;  The  Ca- 
thedral; Idolatrous  Worship  of  Joan  of  Arc,  and  of  tlie  Virgin  Mary, 


CONTENTS.  Yii 

Ascent  of  the  Cathedral  Spire ;  View  from  it ;  Lists  of  Names ;  Telegraph  ;  ^*°^' 
Insurrection  of  Louis  Napoleon  ;  Reminiscence  of  John  Calvin,        .       _       gg 


CHAPTER   X. 


Entrance  into  Germany ;  Grand  Duchy  of  Baden ;  Passports ;  The  Black 
Forest;  Appearance  of  the  People;  Agriculture;  Climate;  Face  of  the 
Country  ;  Language ;  Religion ;  The  Grand  Duke  and  his  Family  ;  Valley 
of  the  Kinzig,      --'-------._.       93 


CHAPTER  XI. 

Architectural  Ruins ;  Minute  Description  of  those  at  Hochberg ;  Mountains 
of  the  Black  Forest;  Sourcesof  the  Danube  ;  Principality  of  Furstenburg; 
First  Glimpse  of  the  Boden  See ;  The  Schwartzwold,         _       _       _  loi 


CHAPTER  XII. 

Entrance  into  Switzerland ;  Canton  and  City  of  SchafThausen ;  Notices  of 
the  Government ;  Manners ;  Habits ;  Dwellings  ;  Language  ;  Religion  and 
Religious  Services ;  Reflections ;  Curious  mode  of  collecting  Alms ;  De- 
scription of  the  Cataract  of  the  Rhine,  and  the  Surrounding  Scenery; 
John  Muller  ;  Ride  up  the  Rhine,  from  SchafThausen  to  Constance,  108 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

Constance ;  Hall  of  the  Council  of  1414 ;  Collection  of  Relics,  Idols,  Arms, 
&c. ;  Anecdote ;  Ruined  Convents  ;  Martyrdom  of  John  Husa  and  Jerome 
of  Prague;  Spirit  of  the  Council;  Early  Efforts  at  Reformation ;  Multitudes 
who  attended  on  the  Council  of  Constance ;  Desolate  Condition  of  the  City ; 
Beauty  of  the  natural  objects  around  it ;  First  Sight  of  the  Alps ;  Cathedral ; 
Column  of  the  Virgin  Mary,       --15-5---     118 


viii  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER    XIV. 

TA.GE. 

Canton  Thurgovie ;  Route  from  Constance  to  Zurich  ;  Civil  and  Political 
Condition  ;  Cholera ;  Quarantines ;  Agriculture  ;  Singular  Dress  ;  Canton 
Zurich;  Gieat  Prosperity;  Grain  Market;  City  and  Lake  of  Zurich; 
William  Tell ;  Feelings  of  the  Swiss  towards  Americans ;  Difficulties  with 
France;  National  Spirit;  Arsenal  of  Zurich;  Ulric  Zwingle ;  Lavater; 
Literary  and  Religious  Establishments  ;  National  Costume ;  Burial  of  the 
Dead ;  Birth  of  an  Infant,  --- -1*) 


CHAPTER   XV. 

Occupation  of  Switzerland  by  the  Romans;  Canton  Zug;  The  Fields  of 
Cappel  and  Morgarten  ;  Churches  ;  Don  Carlos  ;  Exposure  of  the  Dead ; 
Canton  Schwytz ;  Remains  of  Ancient  Dialects ;  The  Avelanche  of  Goldau ; 
Mont  Rigi ;  Remarkable  Geological  PeculiariUes ;  TeU's  Chapel ;  The  Alps,      141 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

Die  Vier  Waldstetten ;  Origin  of  the  Swiss  Confederacy  and  Independence ; 
Canton  Luzern ;  Agiiculture  of  the  Central  Cantons  ;  City  and  Lake  of 
Luzern;  The  Vast  Chain  of  the  .'Ups  ;  Public  Worship ;  Bridges;  National 
Curiosity ;  The  Lion  of  Thorwaldsen,         __,-_--      152 


CHAPTER    XVII. 

Security  of  Interior  Switzerland ;  Battle  Fields ;  Route  from  Luzern  to 
Bein  ;  Art  of  Travelling;  The  Enllibuch;  Swiss  Cottages ;  The  Emmen- 
thal ;  General  SUuclure  of  the  Alpine  Ranges  ;  City  of  Bern ;  Public 
Fare;  Costume;  Political  Changes,    --------      161 


CHAPTER    XVIII. 

Infloencc  of  the  Local  Situation  of  Switzerland  ;  Effects  of  the  Revolution  of 
1830;  Foreign  Interference  with  the  Affairs  of  the  Confederation;  Diffi- 
culliea  with  France  in  1836;  National  Spirit  of  the  Swiss;  Fellenberg ; 
Personal  Troubles;  Defipiency  of  American  Diplomatic  Agents  ;  Notices 
•f  Bern  ;  Influence   of  Alpine  Scenery,  ------      170 


CONTENTS,  ix 

CHAPTER  XIX. 

PAGE. 

Canton  Freyburg ;  Joseph  Wolf;  The  Country  of  Gruyeres  ;  Pilgrims ;  City 
of  Freyburg ;  Great  Suspension  Bridge ;  The  Peasantry ;  Goitres ;  Roman 
Antiquities,  _.-----._.       ,.179 


CHAPTER   XX. 

Canton  Vaud ;  Religious  State  ;  Momiers ;  Dr.  Malan ;  Felix  Neff ;  PoUtical 
Condition  of  the  Canton ;  Approach  to  Lausanne ;  The  City  Itself;  Gibbon, 
tlie  Historian ;  The  Cathedral ;  FeUx  V. ;  The  Council  of  Basle ;  The 
Reigning  Prince  of  Hesse  Cassel ;  Manners  of  the  Great;  The  Special  Use 
of  German  Princes ;  Addition  of  Canton  Vaud  to  the  Helvetic  Confed- 
eration,       ____--_ -187 


CHAPTER  XXI. 

Shores  of  Lac  Leman ;  The  Vintage ;  Labourers  ;  Common  Use  of  Wine ; 
Lake  Craft ;  Coppet ;  Madame  De  Stael ;  Pestalozzi ;  The  Residence  and 
Literary  Labours  of  Byron ;  Feruey ;  Voltaire ;  Estimate  of  him,     - 


CHAPTER  XXII. 

Canton  and  City  of  Geneva,  and  Region  round  about;  Its  past  History; 
Present  Condition ;  Calvin ;  His  Services  to  Geneva ;  General  Estimate 
of  hun,  particularly  as  a  Reformer,  and  as  a  Statesman ;  His  Cotemporaries 
and  Successors ;  Former  Estimation  of  Geneva ;  General  Religious  Declen- 
sion of  the  Last  Century ;  That  Declension  at  Geneva,       .       -       -       -     204 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 

Sketch  of  tlie  Reformed  Church  of  Geneva  to  its  Apostacy ;  Arian  Version 
of  the  Scriptures ;  Succession  of  Truth  hi  the  Church  of  Geneva ;  The 
Universal  Religious  Impulse  of  tlie  Present  Century ;  Its  Origin  and  Pro- 
gress at  Geneva;  Robert  Haldane;  Its  Present  State;  Dr.  Malan;  The 
Cliurch  of  the  Bourg  du  Four;  Evangelical  Society;  Colportage;  Efforts 


:  CONTENTS. 

to  Preach  the  Gospel  at  Home  and  Abroad;  School  of  Theology;  Th« 
Importance  of  its  Position  and  Efforts ;  National  Clergy ;  Popular  Condi- 
tion ;  Extraordinary  Session  of  the  Grand  Council  of  the  Republic;  Cimi- 
tiere  de  I'Egalite,       ---.-_._--.     214 


CHAPTER    XXIV. 

Kingdom  of  Sardinia;  Savoy;  Popular  Superstition ;  Adoration  of  the  Sacred 
Heart;  Horrible  Extent  of  Goitre  and  Idiocy;  Singular  Trait;  National 
Character ;  European  Dialects ;  Specimens  of  Savoyard  Patois,         -       -      230 


CHAPTER   XXV. 

Physical  Aspect  of  Savoy,  and  of  the  Alpine  Ranges ;  Notices  of  their 
GJeneral  Structure ;  Route  Constructed  by  Napoleon  ;  Mont  Cenis ;  Change 
in  our  Mode  of  Travelling ;  Italian  Voituriers  ;  European  Servants  ;  Their 
Condition  compared  with  that  of  Household  Slaves  in  America,     -        -      240 


CHAPTER  XXVI. 

First  Attempt  at  Travelling  without  an  Interpreter ;  Fair  at  Frangy ;  Aix,  its 
Baths  and  Valley ;  Chambery  ;  The  Vale  of  the  Isere,  and  of  St.  Jean-de- 
Mauriennc ;  The  Gorges  of  the  Alps ;  Fortress  of  Bramont, 


CHAPTER   XXVII. 

Paasiige  of  the  Alps;  Ascent  of  Mont  Cenis;  Summit  of  the  Mountain; 
Glaciers ;  Popular  mistake  as  to  the  route  of  Hannibal ;  Soutliern  descent 
of  Cents ;  Personal  Adventure  ;  Striking  Variation  in  Climate  ;  Vastness  of 
the  Alpine  Range;  Coup  d'ceilof  it;  Its  Physical,  Moral,  National  Influ- 
ences; The  Vallies  of  the  Doire  Repuare,  and  of  the  Aosta;  Various 
Passes  into  Italy;  Immense  Plains  of  Piedmont  and  Lombardy;  Con- 
quests-of  Napoleon, --,256 


CONTENTS.  XI 

CHAPTER  XXVIII. 

PAGE. 

Italy;  Territorial  Divisions;  Kingdom  of  Sardinia;  Piedmont;  Coupd'oeil; 
Social  State ;  Mendicants ;  Priests ;  Soldiers ;  Immense  Difficulties  of 
Reform  ;  Grounds  of  Popular  Security— The  Grandeur  of  the  Future,       -      268 


CHAPTER    XXIX. 

Turin ;  Police ;  Sabbath  Day  Employments ;  Palaces ;  Churches ;  Supersti- 
tion, Royal  and  Popular ;  Association  of  the  Children  of  Mary ;  Sismondi ; 
Silvio  Pellico — Le  Mie  Prigione,         -       -        -       -       -       -       -        -      277 


CHAPTER   XXX. 

Gallery  of  the  King  at  Turin;  Egyptian  Museum;  Cbampollion;  Reflections 
on  the  Hieroglyphical  System  ;  Hieroglyphical  Spirit  Inherent  in  all  Lan- 
guage ;  Mummies;  Egyptian  Civilization ;  Illustration  of  Prophecy ;  Quar- 
antine Regulations  ;  Another  Change  of  Route  ;  Espionage  ;  Social  State ; 
Ejneute;  Feverish  Condition  of  Society,    -------286 


CHAPTER   XXXI. 

Journey  from  Turin  towards  Nice;  ThePo;  Plains  of  Piedmont;  Culture 
of  Silk;  Of  the  Vine  i  The  Climate  and  Sky  of  Italy ;  Italian  Landscapes ; 
Savighano;  Popular  Sports,  ---------296 


CHAPTER  XXXII. 

Lkgurian  Mountains ;  Colli  di  Tende ;  Mountain  Hamlets,;  Perils  of  the 
way ;  Wildness  of  the  region ;  Adventiu-e  with  Muleteers ;  Storm  upon 
Mont  Braus;  Geological  Peculiarities;  Mountain  Goats;  The  Fruits  of 
Italy ;  The  Olive ;  Project  of  Napoleon  for  the  Permanent  Occupancy  of 
•pper  Italy,  -----------~" 


3(M 


XU  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER    XXXIII. 

PAGE. 

Nice;  Tlie  Mediterranean ;  Christopher  Columbus ;  Human  Progress;  Trav- 
ellers ;  Romish  Ecclesiastics ;  Sentiments  of  iheir  People  towards  them ; 
Their  Condition  ;  Social,  Moral,  and  Political— Influence  of  Events  since 
1830,    --_---____----      313 


CHAPTER  XXXIV. 

Present  Posture  of  Rome ;  The  absolute  Union  of  her  cause  with  that  of 
Despotism ;  Encyclique  of  1832 ;  The  Abbe  de  la  Mennais  ;  Cardinal  Pacca ; 
Briefs  of  1833;  Encyclique  of  1834;  Bull  to  the  PoUsh  Bishops ;  Inevitable 
Ruin  of  the  Papacy,   --------^--326 


CHAPTER   XXXV. 

Departure  from  Nice ;  Anti-Chamber  of  the  Commandant  of  Sardinian  Gen- 
darmerie ;  The  Waldenses  of  the  Cottienn  Alps,        _____     sse^ 


I?IEI!IORA]^DA7  See. 


CHAPTER  I 


Entrance  into  France— Boulogne— Custom  House— Courier— Languagc-Housea — 
People— The  Town— The  Surrounding  Country— Napoleon's  Column— Mode  of 
Life  amongst  the  Agricultural  Labourers, 


The  boat  was  made  fast  to  the  pier  at  Boulogne  Sur  Mer> 
(so  called  to  distinguish  it  from  another  Boulogne  near  Paris,) 
at  eleven  o'clock  at  night.  It  was  as  bright  a  night,  as  a  full 
moon  in  July  could  make  ;  and  as  we  passed  up  the  strtets  of 
the  New  Town  to  the  Hotel  des  Baines,  the  various  colours  of 
the  flags  which  hung  from  the  windows  of  most  of  the  houses 
were  perfectly  distinguishable.  It  reminded  us  at  once,  that 
this  was  the  first  of  the  three  days  of  July,  being  the  27th  of 
the  month,  in  which  France  had  accomplished,  six  years  ago, 
so  glorious  a  revolution.  The  flag,  like  every  thing  French,  is 
rather  striking;  being  composed  of  three  stripes  of  equal  width, 
running  vertically ;  the  outer  one  red,  the  middle  white,  and  the 
one  near  the  staff,  blue. 

We  had  not,  however,  landed  so  easily,  as  this  slight  notice 
might  lead  one  to  infer.  Under  any  circumstances,  the  great 
crowd  on  board  could  not  very  speedily  disgorge  itself,  when 
laden  with  such  quantities  and  varieties  of  baggage,  alive  and 
inanimate.  But  the  security  of  the  ship  owners  threw  some 
impediments,  and  the  custom  house  regulations  many  more,  in 
Vol.  il— 2 


S  MEMORANDA    OF 

the  way  of  a  short  walk  from  the  boat's  deck,  to  a  comfortable 
chamber  at  a  hotel.  In  our  own  case  there  was  a  special  and 
vexatious  difficulty  :  for  a  lady  who  travelled  under  our  pro- 
lection,  had  packed  away  her  passport,  forgotten  it,  and  pro- 
nounced if  lost — at  least  not  in  her  possession.  What  should  be 
done  was  uncertain  ;  but  the  most  probable  result  seemed  either 
a  delay  of  some  days,  till  the  nearest  public  American  agent 
could  be  written  to ;  or  perhaps,  a  forced  return  to  England. — 
The  first  impulse  was,  of  course,  frankly  to  state  the  case  to  the 
proper  authorities,  and  abide  the  issue.  When  we  had  arranged 
our  plans  for  visiting  the  continent,  the  urgent  advice  of  friends 
in  Britain  had  induced  me  to  employ  a  person,  in  the  double 
capacity  of  interpreter  and  servant.  We  had  taken  into  our 
service,  a  stout,  handsome  young  man,  who  speaks  English 
tolerably  well,  and  three  or  four  of  the  languages  of  the  conti- 
nent perfectly.  His  demand,  in  the  way  of  wages  was  exhor- 
bitant,  being  £lO  a  month,  and  his  expenses  paid  ;  which  aided 
by  a  slight  sinister  expression  in  his  eye,  rather  settled  my  mind 
against  him.  He  mentioned,  however,  very  adroitly,  that 
was  a  Swiss,  and  a  Protestant;  both  names  went  to  my  heart, 
and  Abram  Bejaud,  was  engaged  for  the  tour.  This  of  course 
had  occurred  in  England.  Ana  now  in  our  exigency,  he  was 
summoned,  and  the  difficulty  explained,  with  directions  lor  him 
to  act  according  to  the  view  of  the  case  stated  above.  He  said 
it  was  nothing;  leave  it  to  him,  and  all  would  be  right,  &c.  : 
but  steadily  evaded  explaining  how  he  should  pr()ceed. 

In  the  mean-time  most  of  the  passengers  were  on  shore.  We 
in  turn  proceeded  from  the  boat,  by  a  single  plank,  one  by  one, 
the  courier,  (as  he  chose  always  to  call  himself)  in  advance. — 
The  first  salutation  was  from  a  little  Frenchman  in  a  cocked  hat 
nearly  as  large  as  himself,  who  was  squatted  on  his  hams  on  a 
sort  of  block,  about  as  high  as  a  man's  breast — at  tlie  shore  end 
of  the  plank.  He  demanded  evidence  that  we  had  paid  our 
passage  money ;  was  shown  a  ticket,  and  bade  us  pass.  We 
were  next  marched  across  an  open  space,  into  a  room,  where  on 
one  side  of  a  counter  sat  four  or  five  very  respectable  looking 
men  in  an  undress  uniform  of  blue  ;  and   on  the  other  stood 


FOREIGN    TRAVEL.  3 

a  confused  crowd  of  men,  women  and  children,  guards,  porters, 
and  soldiers,  all  talkincr  ai  once,  and  none  regarding,  apparently, 
what  his  neighbour  said.  Pretty  soon  a  man  over  the  counter 
held  up  a  passport,  and  uttered  sounds,  which  on  the  third  repe- 
tition, bore  a  faint  resemblance  to  my  name.  I  pressed  forward 
— and  found  our  courier  and  the  officers,  engaged  in  a  close 
debate,  which  as  nearly  as  my  very  imperfect  knowledge  of  the 
language  would  allow  me  to  comprehend,  was  to  the  following 
purport:  "This  is  the  passport  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  B — .,  where 
are  they."  "No  sir,  it  is  the  passport  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  and 
Miss  B — .,"  said  Abrani ;  and  in  an  instant,  his  hope  of  smug- 
gling our  travelling  companion  through  the  custom  house,  flashed 
on  my  mind.  I  was  at  loss  whether  to  laugh  out  right,  at  a 
device  so  superlatively  ridiculous,  when  the  ages  of  the  parties 
were  considered,  or  to  renounce  all  benefit  from  so  palpable  a 
fraud,  as  a  thing  wrong  in  itself.  But  before  I  could  summon 
self  command,  and  French  enough  to  interfere,  the  affair  was 
ended.  "There  are  but  two  named  in  the  passport,"  said  the 
Frenchman.  "Then  the  American  minister  has  forgotten  to 
put  in  •'Vim  B — .;"  rejoined  the  courier  !  "  What  can  be  done," 
said  the  oflficer!  "  Done — why  let  her  pass,"  said  Abram  ;  and 
suiting  the  action  to  the  word,  hurried  our  party  towards  the 
door.  A  gendarme,  who  guarded  the  door,  near  the  end  of  tlie 
counter,  seemed  to  regard  all  that  passed  ;  and  spoke  quickly  in 
good  English  ;  "This  way  sir;  this  way  ladies,  let  iiim  settle  it 
with  the  Beaureau."  And  so  saying,  he  turned  us  out,  and  the 
courier  back  ;  but  in  a  moment  more,  he  joined  us,  and  we  mixed 
in  the  crowd,  and  hurried  to  the  hotel. 

It  was  a  very  great  relief:  and  the  whole  matter  was  treated 
by  the  authorities  not  only  in  the  politest  but  in  the  kindest  man- 
ner. They  could  not  but  see,  that  a  fraud  was  practised.  But 
at  the  same  time,  they  could  not  but  know,  that  being  only 
travellers,  and  the  person  interested,  a  female,  no  possible  evil 
could  occur.  In  the  inspection  of  our  baggage,  I  had  the  same 
reason  to  find  public  fame  unjust  here,  as  I  had  before  found  on 
landing  in  England.  Our  trunks,  sacks,  &c.,  were  barely  open- 
ed ;  it  was  a  mere  form.     As  to  bribery,  it  is  out  of  the  question. 


4  MEMORANDA  Ot 

And  yet  there  is  no  part  of  the  world  where  more  smuggling  is 
carried  on,  than  along  this  very  coast.  There  is  but  one  solution 
of  the  case.  Experience  had  made  these  people,  both  here  and 
in  England,  acute  to  the  last  degree.  Where  there  is  ground 
for  suspicion,  it  fastens  at  once  ;  and  the  most  searching  exam- 
inations are  made.  Where  there  is  obviously  no  design  to  evade 
the  revenue  laws  ;  nor  any  intention,  to  do  that,  which  the  gov- 
ernment could  have  any  interest  or  desire  to  prevent,  tlie  trav- 
eller may  confidently  rely  on  receiving  the  utmost  civility.  A 
ready  obedience  to  law,  is  surely  the  duty  of  all  who  go  volun- 
tarily into  a  strange  country ;  and  they  who  evince  that  purpose, 
in  a  frank  and  respectful  manner,  will  find  little  reason  to  join  in 
the  common  outcry  against  the  public  authorities,  for  their  treat- 
ment of  strangers.  Many  laws  are  indeed  absurd  ;  and  many 
customs^at  once  inconvenient  and  ridiculous.  But  we  forget 
our  duly  to  ourselves,  when  we  attempt  to  evade  or  resist  them  ; 
and  are  equally  unmindful  of  our  duty  to  others,  when  those 
whose  office  is  merely  ministerial,  are  viewed  and  treated,  as  if 
they  were  the  responsible  party.  And  it  is  strange  that  people 
should  find  it  so  hard  to  learn,  that  in  this  as  in  every  other  case, 
their  own  good  is  promoted  by  doing  what  is  right. 

The  American  who  finds  himself  in  France  for  the  first  time, 
will  find  himself  in  a  new  world.  The  language  which  he  may 
have  been  vain  enough  to  suppose  he  understood  somewhat  of, 
because  he  could  read  it,  and  comprehend  it,  when  slowly  spoken 
— he  will  scarcely  know  to  be  French.  For  I  take  it  that  the 
two  most  dissimilar  things  that  all  the  anomalies  of  human 
speech  present,  are  the  written  and  spoken  language  of  France. 
Every  thing,  however,  is  strange  and  peculiar.  The  people  are 
ae  striking  as  their  speech  ;  their  houses,  are  strange  as  them- 
selves ;  their  dress,  in  keeping  with  all  ihe  rest ;  and  their  very 
domestic  animals,  and  implements  of  labour,  unique  throughout. 

In  France,  generally,  all  large  establishments  are  built  in  the 
Ibrm  of  a  hollow  square,  into  which  there  is  usually  one  large 
arched  entrance,  admitting  men,  and  beasts,  and  vehicles  of  all 
sorts.  You  enter  upon  a  large  paved  court,  and  find  yourself 
surrounded  by  all  the  appurtenances  of  the  establishment— the 


FOREIGN    TRAVEL.  5 

wails  of  which  often  mount  up  six  or  seven  stories  in  height. — 
Except  the  shops,  and  the  residences  of  people  of  the  poorest 
kind,  it  is  not  common  to  see  doors  entering  from  without, 
immediately  into  tlie  house  :  but  rather  upon  the  inclosed  court. 
The  whole  arrangement  is  admirable,  for  convenience,  for 
privacy,  for  shelter  from  chilly  winds  and  hot  sun,  and  what 
was  not  less  important  in  former  days,  from  external  violence. — 
Their  roofs  are  of  slate  or  tile ;  the  walls  chiefly  of  stone, 
occasionally  of  brick — and  more  rarely  of  wood  and  mud  :  the 
floors,  when  made  of  plank,  are  curiously  constructed  of  short 
pieces  of  oak,  laid  down  in  squares,  diamonds,  &c.,  and  very 
highly  polished  ;  but  they  are  very  often  composed  of  marble, 
or  tiles  of  eight  sides,  painted  red,  and  are  seldom  carpeted:  the 
windows,  by  a  simple  contrivance,  open  each  way  from  the 
centre,  inwards,  like  a  folding  door;  and  are  decidedly  superior 
to  ours;  while  the  walls  of  the  apartments  are  generally  wain- 
scotted  with  wood,  highly  polished  and  left  of  its  natural  colour, 
and  decorated  to  excess  with  the  most  prodigious  mirrors. 

Such  is  a  French  house.  If  it  be  a  palace,  it  is  only  more 
extensive  and  superb  :  if  a  chateau  in  the  country,  only  flattened 
and  widened  :  if  a  town  establishment  of  a  grandee,  or  a  hotel 
of  many  residences,  or  a  '^  tavern  ^ — in  the  American  sense — the 
model  is  the  same. 

Of  the  people  themselves,  I  had  no  juster  ideas  than  of  their 
places  of  abode.  The  French  of  the  upper  classes,  are  totally 
misconceived  of  by  us.  There  is  nothing  of  that  frivolity  and 
exaggerated  lightness  of  manner,  which  have  grown  into  a  pro- 
verb, through  the  hereditary  malice  of  the  English ;  but  the 
same  dignity,  self-possession,  and  gentleness,  which  character- 
ize all  gentlemen  every  where.  Nor  is.  there  even  in  their 
personal  appearance,  so  much  to  distinguish  them,  as  I  had 
supposed.  All  I  have  seen  of  the  human  race,  and  I  have  seen 
specimens  of  nearly  every  variety  that  exists,  leads  me  decidedly 
to  place  the  people  of  the  middle  states  in  America,  at  the  sum- 
mit of  their  kind,  for  physical  advantages.  Comparing  the 
French  with  them,  they  would  be  called  too  short,  and  too- 
strongly  built  for  their  height.     Except  this  and  the  common 

a* 


6  MEMORANDA    OF 

use  of  mustaches,  you  meet  every  day,  a  hundred  men,  that  you 
are  ready  to  believe  are  your  countrymen.  Of  the  other  sex,  in 
this  rank  of  life,  I  speak  not  now. 

There  seem  to  be  Cew  people  of  what  the  English  delight  to 
call  the  middle  classes,  in  France  :  and  there  is,  well  for  France, 
a  still  smaller  proportion  of  the  privileged  classes.  A  gentleman 
of  independent  circumstances,  rentier,  as  they  call  him,  is  the 
real  representative  of  the  substantial  population  of  the  kingdom  ; 
and  while  those  above  him,  are  few  in  proportion,  those  below 
him,  imperceptibly  decline,  from  one  condition  to  another,  none 
sinking  so  low  from  the  level,  as  the  rabble  of  England.  The 
great  body  of  the  labouring  people  in  France,  are  very  peculiar 
in  their  dress  and  appearance.  The  men  seldom  wear  a  hat, 
which  they  substitute  by  a  cap,  resembling  a  common  night  cap. 
The  women  wear  no  bonnets,  but  instead,  a  singular  looking 
cap  put  on  hind  part  before.  The  consequence  is,  that  all  are 
burnt  to  a  degree  of  sallowness,  approaching  the  complexion  ol" 
the  mulatto.  The  females  work  in  the  fields,  with  the  men, 
using  indiscriminately  the  same  implements  of  husbandry;  and 
with  their  short  petticoats  and  bare  arms,  are  more  exposed 
than  the  other  sex.  They  are  in  consequence,  coarse,  large,  and 
homely.  About  the  towns  they  often  claim  an  exclusive  right 
to  occupations,  which  in  other  countries  belong  only  to  men. — 
Thus  at  Boulogne,  females  are  the  only  porters,  and  may  be 
seen  bearing  enormous  burdens  on  their  heads  and  backs,  or 
dragging  them  in  trundles.  And  yet  we  should  be  cautious  in 
condemning  such  customs ;  for  this  one,  I  found  to  be  based  in 
reasons  at  once  politic  and  humane.  It  is  a  perquisite  attached 
to  the  widows  of  those  citizens  who  had  been  seamen,  or  in  some 
way  connected  with  the  sea  service  of  this  coast. 

Boulogne  is  divided  into  two  towns,  having  little  resemblance, 
and  not  much  connexion.  The  lower  and  newer  of  the  two,  is 
situated  on  the  eastern  bank  of  the  Uttle  river  Liane,  and  is  a 
modern  brick  town.  The  upper,  or  oM  town,  is  built  on  the  top 
of  a  high  and  steep  bank,  surrounded  with  a  wide  stone  wall, 
and  is  itself  of  great  antiquity.  It  is  the  Gessoriacura  of  Pliny  ; 
a  town  of  the  Marini,  mentioned  by  Csesar.    From  it  Catharine 


FOREIGN    TRAVEL.  7 

de  Medici,  took  the  title  of  Countess,  on  her  marriage  with 
Henry  of  Orleans,  afterwards  king  of  France.  It  has  given  one 
king  to  England,  and  one  to  Jerusalem  ;  and  here  it  was,  in  more 
ancient  times,  that  Caligula,  as  Suetonius  relates,  ordered  his 
troops  to  rush  upon  the  ocean  as  upon  a  hostile  army,  and 
plucking  up  shells  and  pebbles,  conveyed  them  to  Rome,  as 
evidences  of  his  triumph.  And  wherefore  should  he  not  ?  Or 
wherefore  should  I  deride  him?  Caesar,  and  Caligula — how 
immeasurably  separated  in  all  that  makes  man  illustrious,  both 
in  what  he  is  and  what  he  does.  And  yet  as  I  tread  where  both 
have  trod  before  me,  and  recall  the  meanness,  the  folly,  and  the 
infamy  of  one — and  remember  the  other's  greatness,  majesty 
and  long  renown ;  what  has  twenty  centuries  left  that  makes 
either  of  them  more  to  earth,  or  earth  to  them,  than  the  very 
fine  dust  of  the  balance?  It  is  eternity  alone  that  is  worth 
regarding,  as  the  end  of  life  ;  and  it  only,  as  an  object  of  effort, 
can  be  absolutely  secured. 

While  our  courier  procured  the  passage  of  our  trunks  through 
the  custom  house,  and  was  arranging  for  our  departure  for  Paris 
on  the  morning  after  our  arrival,  we  hired  a  carriage  and  drove 
to  tlie  monument,  commenced  by  Napoleon,  and  now  nearly 
completed  by  Louis  Phillippe,  to  commemorate  the  military 
operations  in  this  neighbourhood,  preparatory  to  the  contem- 
plated invasion  of  England  in  the  year  1814.  The  column  is 
built  of  marble  ;  it  is  a  few  miles  from  Boulogne,  situated  on  an 
elevated  plain  in  the  midst  of  entrenchments  once  occupied  by 
vast  armies,  and  mounting  up  a  hundred  and  sixty  French  feet, 
is  easily  ascended  by  a  flight  of  steps  in  the  inside.  We  were 
shown  to  the  top,  by  an  amazon,  and  as  far  as  the  sense  of 
insecurity  arising  from  a  position,  protected  only  by  a  slight  open 
railing  would  allow,  we  enjoyed  a  boundless  prospect  of  sea  and 
land.  To  the  west,  the  British  channel  lay  at  our  feet  and 
melted  away  into  the  horizon,  out  of  all  reach  :  towards  the 
north,  the  English  coast  was  distinctly  visible,  along  an  extended 
line;  and  to  the  south  and  east,  the  plains  of  France,  wide, 
naked  and  uniform,  dotted  here  and  there  by  a  village  or  a  forest 
—indented  by  the  course  of  some  small  stream — or  roughened 


8  MEMORANDA    OF 

aloncr  the  skirts  by  the  barren  red  sand  hills,  that  fringe  the 
coast.  It  is  a  noble  prospect,  little  known,  and  seldom  visited. 
The  few  Americans  who  come  to  Bouloorne  are  laughed  out  of 
countenance,  at  the  bare  mention  of  so  foolish  a  purpose  by  the 
multitudes  of  English  who  resort  to  this  place,  partly  to  enjoy 
sea  bathing,  partly  to  live  cheaper  than  at  home,  partly  to  escape 
tlieir  creditors,  and  principally  perhaps  because  the  charge  for 
coming  here  is  less  than  for  going  so  far  in  any  other  direction, 
out  of  England.  They  have  not  yet  forgotten  the  event  to 
which  the  monument  relates ;  and  in  the  degree  that  all  England 
was  terrified  then,  ail  England  seems  to  think  it  right  to  be  merry 
and  make  contemptuous  speeches  now. 

I  found  a  kw  labourers  at  work  on  blocks  of  marble,  intended 
for  the  completion  of  a  pavement  at  the  base  of  the  pillar  ;  but 
when  we  descended  they  were  sleeping  on  the  ground  under 
ihe  shade  of  a  ^ew  neighbouring  trees.  This  led  lo  a  conversa- 
tion with  our  giantess,  as  to  the  condition  and  habits  of  the  agri- 
cultural labourers.  I  have  since  had  many  opportunities  to 
observe  their  habits,  and  to  obtain  information  as  to  their  condi- 
tion. They  live  generally  in  villages  or  small  clusters  of  houses, 
which  are  built  of  stone,  or  mud,  and  covered  with  tile  or  thatch. 
Many  own  small  portions  of  land,  purchased  at  very  reduced 
prices,  during  the  first  revolution,  when  the  estates  of  those  who 
fled,  and  those  who  suffered,  were  confiscated  and  brought  to 
the  hammer.  Their  food  consists  of  an  early  breakfast,  of  bread 
only,  and  that  of  a  coarse  description  ;  sometimes  a  little  cheese, 
still  more  rarely  vegetables,  milk,  tea  or  coffee.  At  twelve 
o'clock  they  dine  on  a  soup  made  of  vegetables,  enriched  by  a 
small  piece  of  butter,  or  animal  fat  of  some  kind,  such  as  skim- 
mings of  boiled  meat,  or  the  drippings  of  such  as  has  been 
roasted  ;  and  after  dinner,  a  repose  in  the  open  air,  of  an  hour 
or  two  is  taken.  Some  go  home  to  their  mid-day  meal — but 
most  have  it  brought  to  ihem.  About  sun-set,  they  quit  work, 
and  eat  a  third  meal,  of  bread  only.  Meat  is  eaten  once  a  week, 
and  a  pint  of  cheap  wine,  about  as  often  is  drank  as  a  luxury.— 
Such  is  the  life  of  the  agricultural  labourers  in  France;  and 
with  it,  Uiey  seem^  a  healthy,  contented,  and  cheerful  race. 


FOREIGN    TRAVEL.  9 

We  returned  through  the  old  town,  which  is  smaller  than  the 
new,  and  is  very  picturesque.  In  the  centre  is  an  ample  paved 
square,  where  most  of  the  principal  buildings  for  public  use  are 
situated  ;  always  excepting  the  churches,  which  in  all  Catholic 
countries  were  placed  a  little  out  of  the  Town  ;  for  being  always 
in  former  times  connected  with  some  establishment  for  the  resi- 
dence of  priests,  monks,  nuns,  or  some  other  religious  persons, 
they  were  located  in  situations  favourable  to  retirement  and 
privacy.  The  four  principal  streets,  leading  from  the  four  gates 
of  the  city,  meet  in  this  central  square.  The  streets  are  all 
narrow,  generally  crooked,  and  overhung  by  houses,  that  get 
wider  as  they  get  higher,  often  having  two  or  three  offsets,  at  as 
many  successive  stories.  At  these  offsets  the  floor  and  walls 
above  are  supported  by  the  most  grotesque  figures,  of  men, 
beasts,  and  deamons,  in  every  condition  of  decay.  The  rampart 
is  planted  with  trees  ;  and  affords  a  fine  promenade,  and  delight- 
ful views  of  the  sea,  and  the  adjacent  country.  The  house  ia 
which  Le  Sage,  the  author  of  Gil  Bias,  died,  with  an  inscription 
over  the  door,  is  still  shown.  The  old  town  is  east  of  the  new ; 
and  the  two  contain  about  eighteen  thousand  inhabitants,  of 
whom  an  eighth  part  are  English.  In  its  essential  characteristics 
the  foregoing  description  will  apply  to  all  the  walled  towns  of 
France,  which  once  exceeded  two  thousand  ;  and  which  are  still 
objects  of  curiosity,  to  Americans  at  least — in  whose  country, 
nothing  like  them  is  to  be  found. 


10  MEMORANDA   OP 


CHAPTER    II. 


Travelling  in  France— French  Money— Departure  from  Boulogne— Public  Agitation 
—Route  to  Paris— Samer—Montreuil— Crecy—Bernay— Bauvais-Abbeville— 
Face  of  the  Country— Incidents— Pauperism— Harvest— Vineyards— St.  Dennis- 
Postillions— Entrance  into  Paris. 


The  mode  of  travellinfr  in  France,  is  left  very  much  to  the 
option  of  the  traveller.  You  may  hire  horses  and  postilions, 
and  ride;  changing  every  eight  or  ten  miles.  The  word  mile, 
however,  never  occurs;  distance  being  estimated  entirely  by 
posts,  each  post  being  two  P>ench  leagues,  equal  to  about  five 
and  a  half  English  miles.  You  may  take  a  seat  in  a  diligence, 
which  is  a  species  of  omnibus  having  four  places  to  carry  passen* 
gers^  and  taking  in  all  about  fourteen  or  seventeen  persons 
exclusive  of  the  conducteur  and  postilions.  The  latter  usually 
ride  the  horses;  the  former  rides  in  an  affair  exactly  like  a  gig 
body,  set  on  the  top  of  the  front  apartment  of  the  diligence. 
This  place  will  hold  two  besides  the  conducteur ;  behind  it  all 
along  the  top  is  carried  baggage;  under  it  is  a  place  for  three 
people  ;  and  then  there  are  two  apartments  more,  each  containing 
six  persons.  The  diligence  is  drawn  by  four,  five,  six,  or  even 
more  horses,  placed  two  or  three  a-breast,  and  fastened  to  the 
vehicle,  universally  with  ropes,  and  in  such  a  way  as  to  prevent 
them  from  standing  exactly  abreast,  but  to  cause  them  to  pull  in 
echelon.  I  rarely  saw  a  leather  or  chain  trace  to  a  diligence,  or 
hired  travelling  carriage  in  France.  If  you  prefer  to  travel  in  a 
more  private  way,  you  can  hire  a  carriage  of  any  description,  for 
any  length  of  time.     1  was  shown  into  a  magazine,  as  they  call 


FOREIGN    TRAVEL.  11 

-every  such  repository,  and  selected  one  out  ofseveral  dozen.  Tiie 
tjostof  it  to  Paris  was  one  hundred  i'rancs.  the  owner  responsible 
for  its  repairs,  and  I  only  for  its  delivery  at  an  appointed  place  in 
that  city.  The  horses  are  under  the  control  of  the  government, 
which  prescribes  regulations  and  fixes  the  price  for  their  use; 
although  ordinarily  they  are  private  property.  They  are  kept 
at  fixed  stations — are  let  at  settled  rates, — and  you  are  certain 
to  get  them  and  postilions,  not  only  when  wanted,  at  cheap  rates, 
and  of  excellent  descriptions  ;  but  you  are  forced  to  take  as  many 
nt  a  time,  and  them  as  often  as  the  law  has  determined  to  be 
necessary.  Our  party  consisting  of  three,  and  a  courier,  we 
were  obliged  to  take  three  horses  and  one  postilion  ;  the  cost 
being  for  him  and  them  seven  and  a  half  francs  per  post,  of  five 
miles;  that  is,  six  for  the  three  horses,  and  one  and  a  half  for  the 
postilion.  From  Boulogne  to  Paris  is  twenty-lour  posts — about 
one  hundred  and  twenty  English  miles ;  making  the  whole 
expense  of  carriage,  horses,  and  postilion,  exclusive  of  other 
charges,  (and  of  douceurs)  two  hundred  and  eighty  franks  for 
four  persons,  or  about  thirteen  dollars  each.  This  is  about  half 
the  expense  of  travelling  in  the  same  way  in  England  ;  and  is 
far  more  comfortable,  first,  because,  in  England  you  are  obhged 
to  change  your  carriage  every  fevv  miles,  and  secondly,  because 
there  is  in  France  much  less  delay,  and  much  more  civility. 

I  had  as  well  say  a  word  about  the  money  of  France.  Bills 
are  not  in  common  circulation,  ihe  Bank  of  France  issuing  them, 
only  of  large  denominations,  five  hundred  francs  being,  I  believe, 
ttie  smallest.  The  gold  coins  oftenest  met  with,  are  the  forty 
franc  and  twenty  franc  pieces;  but  gold  is  always  worth  a  pre- 
mium here,  and  therefore  enters  but  little  into  the  ordinary 
exchanges.  The  ordinary  silver  coins  are  the  pieces  of  five 
franco,  two  francs,  one  Iranc,  three-quarters,  half,  and  one-fourth 
of  a  franc.  The  coins  of  billon  and  copper,  are  of  various 
values,  from  a  deceme,  which  is  two  sous  or  the  tenth  part  of  a 
franc,  to  a  centeme,  which  is  the  fifth  part  of  a  sous,  or  the 
hundredth  part  of  a  franc,  and  equal  in  value  to  IcvSS  than  a  fifth 
part  of  one  cent.  The  taille  is  very  easy.  The  silver  franc, 
may  be  said  to  be  the  basis  of  it ;  twenty  of  them  make  the  gold 


12  MEMORANDA    OF 

Napoleon,  while  the  twentieth  part  of  one  is  the  copper  sous.— 
The  five  franc  piece  which  is  very  common  in  the  United  States 
makes  this  coinage  familiar  to  Americans;  who  have  only  to 
recollect  that  the  par  value  of  the  franc  is  about  nineteen  cents 
of  our  money.  This  is  the  money  tory  system  established  in  1795. 
There  is  another  and  much  more  ancient  system  and  coinage, 
many  of  the  pieces  of  which  correspond  in  value  with  those  now 
used  under  other  names.  But  the  modern  coinage  becoming  of 
more  value  in  the  market,  a  decree  of  1810  scaled  the  two  in 
such  a  way  as  to  render  it  the  interest  of  the  holders  of  the 
ancient  coinage  to  have  it  recast,  so  that  at  present  little  of  it  is 
seen. 

We  left  Boulogne  the  day  after  our  arrival,  in  the  afternoon, 
intending  to  divide  the  distance  to  Paris  into  three  stages,  to  be 
travelled  in  as  many  days.  As  we  drove  out  of  the  town,  and 
indeed  as  we  passed  through  all  the  cities  and  villages  on  the 
way,  the  crowds  of  neat  looking  people  with  joyful  faces,  the 
long  lines  of  flags  streaming  from  the  windows,  and  every  aspect 
of  all  things  around  us,  showed  how  manifestly  the  revolution 
of  July,  was  national  in  France.  This  was  the  second  of  the 
three  joyfully  remembered  days;  and  having  a  more  distinct 
view  of  the  flags  than  by  the  moonlight  of  the  preceding  night, 
I  observed  many  of  them  to  have  a  fillet  of  crape  around  the 
upper  part  of  the  staff".  I  pointed  it  out  several  times,  on  that 
and  the  succeeding  day,  to  different  individuals,  and  received 
from  all  the  same  response,  and  the  same  equivocal  exposition. 
It  is,  they  would  say,  for  the  victims  of  the  Revolution ;  and 
then  would  add,  but  it  is  improper  to  allow  it  to  remain  after  the 
first  day — especially  improper  to  permit  it  on  the  third  day. — 
This  perplexed  me,  for  all  admitted  it  to  be  outre,  yet  the  great 
majority  did  it.  It  struck  me  there  might  be  a  deeper  feeling  ; 
and  1  observed,  perhaps  it  is  for  the  Revolution  itself— for  its 
supposed  failure,  that  you  clothe  your  tri-colour  in  mourning? 
I  got  no  answer,  in  any  case,  but  a  shrug  of  the  shoulder,  or  a 
cast  of  the  brow  upwards,  or  the  mere  remark  that  there  was  a 
difference  of  opinion  in  France,  as  elsewhere.  1  found  that  the 
kino-  had  determined  to  put  off"  the  usual  review  of  the  National 


FOREIGN    TRAVEL.  l3 

Guard,  that  plots  and  conspiracies  were  talked  of— arrests  to  a 
great  extent  made — a  strong  and  anxious  sensation  excited  in 
the  country,  and  bodies  of  troops  moving  in  various  directions. 
That  afternoon  we  met  a  fine  squadron  of  cavalry  consisting  of 
several  hundred  men,  each  of  whom  led  a  spare  horse. 

Our  route  lay  parallel  with  the  coast,  for  some  distance,  which 
at  length  bearing  off  towards  the  westward,  left  our  course  con- 
tinued in  a  direction  a  little  east  of  south,  towards  the  heart  of 
the  kingdom.  The  first  night  we  slept  at  Bernay,  fourteen 
leagues  from  Boulogne ;  after  passing  through  and  in  sight  of 
numerous  hamlets  and  villages,  and  the  walled  towns  of  Samer 
and  Montrueil.  Samer  is  situated  on  the  top  of  a  hill,  and  the 
view  of  it,  both  as  the  traveller  approaches  it  and  departs  from 
it,  for  several  miles,  is  very  beautiful.  As  it  lay  before  me,  in 
the  warm  and  rich  light  of  a  July  sun,  after  I  had  lost  the  greater 
part  of  summer  in  a  more  northern  climate,  1  thought  I  had 
seldom  looked  upon  a  prettier  landscape,  than  its  hill,  its  white 
v/all,  its  green  trees,  and  its  wide  rural  vicinage  presented.  Not 
unlike  it,  but  far  more  extensive,  is  the  view  of  Montrueil,  as 
you  emerge  from  the  forest  of  Longvilliers,  through  which  you 
have  passed  for  half  a  league,  and  behold  it  a  mile  or  two  off, 
perched  in  almost  impregnable  strength  upon  a  rock  on  the  top 
of  one  of  those  chalk  hills  which  abound  in  France  as  well  as  in 
England.  It  is  an  ancient,  and  must  once  have  been  a  fine  city. 
Some  of  its  ruins  are  still  noble.  Before  reaching  our  lodging, 
we  crossed  the  small  stream,  which  divides  the  departments  of 
Somme  and  Pais-de-Calais,  and  a  little  further  on,  entered  the 
skirts  of  the  renowned  forest  of  Crecy,  a  name  so  full  of  glory 
to  every  British  ear ;  and  reaching  Bernay,  with  the  light  of  a 
bright  moon,  slept  soundly,  in  an  excellent  inn. 

The  second  day's  journey  brought  us  after  twenty-six  leagues' 
travel  to  Bouvais,  the  chief  town  of  the  department  of  Oise. 
It  contains  about  fifteen  thousand  inhabitants,  is  of  unknown 
antiquity,  and  though  built  principally  of  wood,  is  rather  a 
handsome  town.  Its  manufactures  of  woolen,  but  especially 
those  of  tapestry,  are  admirable ;  the  latter  being  considered 
inferior  only  to  those  of  the  Gobelins  near  Paris.  This  art  is 
Vol.  n.— 3 


14  MEMORANDA    OF 

carried  to  so  great  perfection,  that  when  inspecting  the  Cathedral 
of  Notre-Dame,  at  Paris,  I  saw,  in  company  with  a  considerable 
party,  a  picture  of  Saint  somebody,  (I  forget  who,)  in  the  guise 
of  a  shepherdess,  hanging  in  the  treasury,  behind  the  great 
Bacristie,  which  excited  universal  astonishment,  when  it  was 
pronounced  a  piece  of  tapestry.  It  was  little  inferior  to  the 
majority  of  the  paintings  which  are  shown  as  great  treasures  in 
a  cathedral,  richer  in  holy  relics  than  most  others  in  Europe. 
During  the  day,  we  passed  through  Abbeville,  on  the  river 
Somme,  in  ancient  Picardy  ;  an  extensive  manufacturing  town 
a  few  leagues  from  Saint  Valery,  at  the  mouth  of  ihe  river,  and 
up  to  which  point  all  the  way  from  Boulogne  our  road  lay  par- 
allel with  the  coast,  and  often  in  view  of  the  sea.  It  interested 
me  more  for  its  namesake,  and  the  sake  of  those  persecuted 
Protestants,  who  in  the  new  world  have  preserved  the  remem- 
brance of  it,  in  a  district  and  town  of  the  same  name  in  South 
Carolina — whither,  as  is  well  known,  a  portion  of  the  Hugonots 
fled ;  and  where  their  offspring  now  occupy  so  conspicuous  a 
rank,  amongst  the  best  citizens  of  our  Republic.  Bauvais  is  a 
walled  town,  and  was  never  taken  by  an  enemy,  though  repeat- 
edly besieged.  In  1443,  the  English  were  repulsed  from  it;  and 
in  1472,  the  Burgundians,  to  the  number  of  eighty  thousand, 
were  unable  to  take  it.  This  time,  the  legend  goes,  it  was 
saved  by  the  courage  of  its  females,  under  the  direction  of  a 
girl  called  Jeanne  Hachette,  in  commemoration  of  whom,  after 
the  lapse  of  four  hundred  years,  the  grateful  citizens  still  keep  up 
an  annual  fete,  on  the  tenth  of  July.  If  we  add  to  this,  the  fact, 
that  an  unusual  number  of  distinguished  men  have  been  natives 
of  Bauvais,  we  shall  see  no  reason  to  be  surprised,  that  its 
inhabitants  are  proud  of  La  Pucelle,  as  they  call  their  pretty 
town. 

Of  Marseille,  Granvilliers,  Airaines,  and  other  smaller  places, 
it  is  needless  to  make  special  mention.  I  am  sure,  however, 
they  err,  who  say  that  France  is  destitute  of  charms  to  the  trav- 
eller, even  in  this  part  of  it,  which  is  said  to  be  the  least  inter- 
esting of  all.  Its  general  surface,  is  a  wide,  indeed  an  apparently 
unlimited  plain ;  elevated,  undulating,  intersected  by  numerous 


FOREIGN    TRAVEL.  15 

&mall  streams,  each  causing  a  considerable,  but  gradual  depres- 
oion  ;  and  crossed  by  many  ranges  raised  somewhat  above  the 
i^eneral  level,  and  whose  taps  and  sides  are  the  resting  places  of 
many  towns.  There  is  little  wood^  and  what  remains  is  in 
forests  of  some  magnitude.  There  are  no  fences,  no  ditches,  no 
hedges,  no  walls,  except  infvmediately  about  the  places  of  human 
abode.  The  crops  grow  upto  the  roadside  ;.  the  plats  of  ground 
are  divided  by  invisible  lines;  the  flocks  of  sheep  feed  in  their 
pastures,  kept  from  the  ripe  and  growing  crops,  only  by  the 
vigilance  of  the  shepherd  and  his  dogs..  Flocks,  or  single 
animals  even,  of  other  kinds  are  rarely  seen*,  I  have  observed 
neither  cow,  hog,  nor  horse,  at  large ;  and  the  whole  face  of 
France  presents  a  continual  aspect  of  cultivated  grounds^  inter- 
spersed only  with  human  habitations.  Through  such  a  region,, 
a  wide  and  nearly  straight  road,  paved  or  gravelled  in  the 
middle,  about  twenty  feet  wide,  and  having  an  unpaved  space 
on  either  side,  of  the  same  width,  passes  the  whole  distance 
from  Boulogne  to  Paris.  No  tolls  are  demanded,  and  tlie  same 
liberality  and  good  sense,  which  make  the  highways  free,  are 
adorning  them  with  continuous  rows^  of  trees  on  both  sides, 
sometimes  to  a  considerable  depth. 

There  are,  however,  several  inconveniences,  which  remind  us 
that  we  are  in  a  land  where  men  are  vigilantly  watched,  and 
perhaps  need  watching.  At  least  once  a  day,  and  often  twice, 
a  gendarme  demands  a  sight  of  your  passports;  or  rather  of  the 
descriptive  account  of  you  and  them,  which  was  given  to  you,- 
when  they  were  taken  from  you  on  your  entrance  into  France; 
and  which  are  restored  to  you  again  at  Paris.  At  every  walled 
town  you  enter,  you  are  also  stopped  to  be  interrogated,  as  t© 
whether  you  are  carrying  any  thing  that  can  be  eaten  or  drank 
into  them — that  you  might  be  made  to  pay  duty,  if  you  chanced 
lobe  going  to  market;  and  as  if  they  could  not  see,  without  this 
nonsense,  that  all  mankind  are  not  hucksters.  So  again,  every 
inn  you  remain  a  few  hours  at,  is  forced  to  make  out  a  far  more 
perfect  roll  of  your  party,  than  is  to  be  found  in  most  congrega- 
tions of  our  church  members  ;  which  is  daily  inspected  by  the 
^liceo.    But  above   all,  the  army,  of  beggars,  is  intolerable.— 


16  MEMORANDA    OF 

Luckily  the  inferior  coins  of  France  are  of  small  value,  or  they 
whose  principles  or  feelings  impel  them  to  attend  to  such  calls  of 
human  want,  or  degradation,  might  soon  be  forced  to  give  up 
their  travels  and  turn  mendicants  themselves.  From  the  tender- 
est  youth,  to  extreme  old  age,  embracing  both  sexes,  beggars 
surround  you  wherever  you  go,  except  in  Paris.  There  you  see 
very  kw,  except  in  and  around  the  churches.  But  every  where 
else,  in  the  villages,  on  the  road  sides  ;  children  in  the  arms  of 
their  parents,  little  girls,  boys,  young  women,  men,  blind,  lame, 
every  thing,  every  where.  In  several  places,  little  huts  had  been 
cut  out  of  the  soft  rock  in  the  hill  sides,  and  fitted  up  as  habita- 
tions, out  of  which  mendicants  would  sally  as  soon  as  the 
rattling  of  the  carriage  gave  them  notice  of  your  approach. — 
This  horrible  condition  of  things  seems  peculiar  to  Papal  countries 
— and  can  perhaps  be  easily  explained.  By  llie  principles  of 
that  religion,  the  ecclesiastics  are  made  the  almoners  oi'  the 
public  benevolence ;  insomuch  that  not  1o  consult  them  as  to  the 
objects  and  methods  of  it,  is  nearly  as  great  a  sin  in  their  code 
as  not  to  give  alma  at  alL  In  all  such  states,  where  tythe  was 
granted  to  the  clergy — a  regular  part,  generally  one-fourth, 
was  declared  to  be  the  patrimony  of  the  poor ;  which  being  two 
and  a  half  per  cent,  on  all  the  gross  product  of  labour,  would  be 
a  most  abundant  provision  for  the  misfortunes  of  society. — 
Another  result  attendant  on  such  a  policy  is,  that  no  Catholic 
state  makes  any  public  provision  for  the  poor,  other  than  that 
contemplated  above  ;  which  indeed  would  be  useless,  if  that 
were  efficiently  and  honestly  administered.  Without  calling  in 
question  the  character  of  the  Romish  priesthood  every  where — 
it  is  quite  manifest  that  such  a  system  as  this  must  be  liable  to 
enormous  abuse  on  one  hand^and  corresponding  suffering  on  the 
other,  even  when  fully  in  exercise.  But  if  it  be  remembered 
that  a  vast  proportion  of  these  persons  have  in  all  ages  been 
mendicants  themselves,  there  will  appear  but  small  chance  for 
other  poor.  Tljen  when  it  is  considered  that  the  tythe  itself, 
which  was  the  basis  of  the  original  scheme,  is  no  longer  paid  in 
many  papal  countries  ;  it  is  certain  that  no  excuse  can  be  avail- 
able either  for  governments  that  permit  such  suffering  amongst 


FOREIGN    TRAVEL.  17 

Ifte  poor,  without  any  provision  for  them;  or  for  a  religion  that 
tolerates,  when  it  might  as  easily  as  others,  redress  the  wretch- 
edness, and  remove  the  cause  of  it.  Besides  the  want  which 
probably  first  produced  the  mendicity  amongst  the  people  at 
large,  and  which  common  humanity  should  impel  all  men  to 
remedy  <  the  moral  effect  of  the  begging  itself,  is  perhaps,  still 
more  to  be  deplored.  All  sense  of  shame  gives  place  to  deceit 
and  falsehood — until  to  beg,  creates  no  pain,  and  to  deceive  pro- 
duces no  compunction.  Yet  the  very  structure  of  their  religion 
produces  this  condition  of  things  in  all  Papal  states;  and  while 
you  search  in  vain  for  one  that  has  escaped  it,  you  will  not  find 
a  syllable  of  doctrine  which  forbids,  nor  one  moral  lesson  which 
expostulates  against  the  thing  itself,  in  all  the  authorized  exposi- 
tions and  teachings  of  that  church,  in  all  ages. 

The  greater  part  of  the  diiy  which  brought  us  from  Bernay  to 
Bauvais,  had  been  damp  and  showery.     Our  third  day's  journey 
was  a  short  one  into  Paris,  a  distance  of  only  seventeen  leagues, 
through  Noailles,  Puiseux,  Beaumont  upon  the  Oise,  where  the 
stream  is  of  considerable  breadth,  Moisselles,  and  St.  Denis.    It 
was  in  the  midst  of  hay,  and  wheat  iiarvest;  and  the  fields  were 
full  of  persons  of  all  ages,  and  both  sexes — busily  engaged  in 
that  season  so  joyful  to  the  husbandman.     Until  to-day,  we  had 
not  observed  many  vines  ;  but  as  you  recede  from  the  sea  coast, 
they  become  more  abundant,  and  occupy  a  larger  space.     There 
is  something  rather  mean,  in  the  appearance  of  these  vineyards. 
They  are  of  small  extent,  planted  without  any  order,  at  intervals 
of  eighteen  inches  or  two  feet  between  the  vines,  which  are 
trained  up  a  small  stick,  and  do  not  exceed  three  feet  in  height. 
The  grapes  seem  hardly  half  grown.    As  I  saw  the  harvest 
ready  to  be  completed,  and  the  vintage  still  far  off— I  recalled 
many  instances  from  the  Scriptures,  where  the  former  is  men- 
tioned as  an  emblem  of  peace,  and  of  our  ingathering,  and  many 
others  where  the  latter  is  used  to  shadow  forth  the  wrath  of  God, 
and  the  destruction  of  wicked  men ;  and  I  rejoiced  in  the  beau- 
tiful illustration  before  my  eyes,  that  as  the  harvest  evermore 
precedeth  the  vintage,  so  the  mercy  goeth  before  the  woe ! — 
Ajid  shall  it  be  thus  for  good  to  us,  and  toyou,  my  poor  fellow 
3* 


18  MEMORANDA    OF 

worraSj  who  pass  each  other  by  to-day,  having  nothing  to  unite 
us  but  our  common  sinful  natures — and  the  common  hopes  (if 
they  indeed  be  ours)  which  the  Lord  Jesus  only  can  bestow ; 
shall  it  be  good  for  us  and  you  that  the  harvest  is  before  the 
vintage,  when  we  behold  each  other's  faces  for  the  second  time, 
by  the  light  that  issues  from  the  throne  of  God  ?  And  shall  it  be 
good  for  thee,  reader? 

Our  last  change  of  horses  was  at  the  ancient  village  of  St. 
Denis,  so  renowned  in  the  history  of  the  monarchs  of  France. 
From  the  end  of  the  sixth  century,  to  the  end  of  the  eighteenth, 
they  were  interred  in  the  abbey  of  St.  Denis.  One  of  the  most 
brutal  acts  of  the  first  revolution  in  France,  was  the  decree  of 
the  Convention  in  1793,  in  obedience  to  which,  the  remains  of 
the  sovereigns  of  France,  of  the  three  first  races,  were  disinter- 
red and  thrown  into  two  trenches  near  the  church.  In  this  place 
too,  was  deposited  with  the  most  religious  care,  the  sacred  banner 
of  France,  the  Orijiamme; — which  was  the  signal  for  the  univer- 
sal rising  of  the  nation  to  arms, — and  which  so  often  led  her 
enthusiastic  armies  to  victory.  This  was  a  scarlet  banner, 
which  after  the  time  of  Charles  VII.,  gave  way  to  the  white 
drapeau,  and  it,  in  its  turn,  after  leading  ihe  millions  to  slaughter, 
for  the  space  of  three  centuries,  yielded  to  the  tri-colour  of  the 
first  revolution.  I  was  roused  from  a  reveree  like  this,  by  the 
rattling  of  what  at  first  seemed  a  pair  of  kettles,  but  which  turned 
out  to  be  a  pair  of  boots.  The  French  postilion  is  the  most  bur- 
lesque creature  in  the  world,  except  the  monkeys  you  see  dressed 
up  in  regimentals,  riding  on  dogs,  and  bowing  and  doffing  their 
caps,  on  all  sides,  for  pennies  for  their  master.  I  thought  I  was 
prepared  by  previous  exhibitions,  for  any  thing  in  the  shape  of 
boots ;  but  I  was  mistaken.  This  fellow  had  to  ride  into  Paris^ 
and  must  be  better  equipped  than  usual.  Hence,  boots  that 
come  half  way  up  the  thigh,  which  all  have,  were  too  low  for 
him ;  and  spurs  that  on  all  their  heels  look  like  dirk  blades  more 
than  spurs,  was  too  small  for  him ;  and  spencers  that  did  not 
reach  to  the  small  of  the  back,  and  whose  skirt  was  too  short  to 
button  at  all,  were  quite  too  full  for  him.  His  coat  was  a  pair 
of  sleeves,  with  two  collars,  one  above  and  one  below, — and 


FOREIGN    TRAVEL.  1& 

might  as  well  be  pui  on  upside  down^as  any  way.  His  boots 
he  made  no  pretension  of  walking  in — indeed  he  admitted  they 
weighed  ten  pounds  each,  and  the  spurs  alone  would  render 
them  useless,  except  on  horseback.  Equipped  perfectly  to  his 
heart's  content,  he  took  us  rapidly  over  the  two  leagues  that 
separate  St.  Denis  from  the  capital. 

Montmartre  was  on  the  left ;  Les  Batlgnoles  on  the  right. — 
The  Barriere  de  Clichy  is  passed,  and  we  enter  Paris  along  the 
front  of  the  garden  of  Tivoli,  by  the  Rue  Clichy  and  Rue  de  la 
Chauss^e  d'  Antin  ;  to  the  right  along  the  Boulevart  des  Capu- 
cines ;  inclining  to  the  left  down  the  Rue  de  la  Paix ;  by  the 
place  Vendome,  and  the  magnificent  bronze  column  made  of  the 
canon  taken  in  Germany ;  on  through  the  Rue  Castiglione ;  to 
the  left  into  the  Rue  Rivoh,  to  the  Hotel  Windsor,  overlooking 
the  Jardin  des  Thuileries.  I  have  named  the  most  magnificent 
quarter  of  the  noblest  city  in  Europe.  I  write  these  lines  in  the 
midst  of  scenes  which  have  witnessed,  or  which  recall  great 
events,  through  the  lapse  of  sixty  generations ;  and  which  are 
perhaps  reserved  for  a  still  higher  destiny  ! 


2(X  MEMORANDA   OP 


CHAPTER    III 


Paris— Its  Greatness — Situation— Beauty—Coup  d' ceil  of  it — Sabbath  Day  in  Paris 
—Sabbath  Scenes— Reformed  Church  in  the  Rue  Taithboui— Service  in  French, 
and  in  English— Garden  of  the  Thuileries— Place  de  la  Concorde — Champs 
Elysees— Fete  of  the  Revolution— Scenes  by  Lamp-light— A  Crowd— The 
Inauguration  of  the  Triumphal  Arch  at  Barrierc  de  Neuilly. 


It  was*^  common  saying  with  Napoleon,  that  a  revolution  in 
Paris,  is  a  revolution  in  Europe.  And  although  this  might  be, 
in  some  degree  an  exaggeration  of  the  greatness  of  this  capitalj , 
it  is  not  too  much  to  say,  that  it  is  undoubtedly  the  most  import- 
ant city  in  the  world.  Nor  is  it  to  be  questioned,  that  it  has 
held  this  rank  at  least  from  the  subversion  of  the  Eastern  Empire ; 
while  we  might  attribute  nearly  as  much  to  it,  with  every 
appearance  of  justice,  from  the  moment  in  which  Rome  itself 
was  undone.  Nor  can  it  be  disguised,  that  although  its  growth 
in  point  of  numbers,  or  even  perhaps  in  wealth,  has  not  kept 
pace  with  several  other  capitals — yet  its  relative  importance, 
has  been  steadily  augmenting,  and  but  for  its  reverses  at  that 
disastrous  period  when  all  Europe  marched  upon  it,  and  plunder- 
ed it  of  the  vast  and  exquisite  works  of  which,  before,  the  earth 
itself  had  been  pillaged  for  it ;  there  would  at  this  moment  have 
been  nothing  to  name  even  in  comparison  with  it. 

The  region  in  which  this  city  is  located  was  formerly  called 
the  Isle  of  France,  from  the  shape  given  to  it  by  the  windings  of 
the  rivers  Seine  and  Marne.  The  more  appropriate  name  of 
the  Vale  of  Montmorenci,  was  long  borne  by  the  delicious  valley 
in  which  the  oily  is  situated ;  a  name  derived,  from  that  illustrious 


FOREIGN    TRAVEL.  21 

family,  (whose  chief  seat  was  at  Chantilly  in  the  immediate 
neighborhood,)  which  for  so  many  ages  justified  by  their  gran- 
deur and  their  stainless  integrity,  the  legend  of  their  arms,  les 
premiers  Christiens,  et  les  plus  veilles  Barons  de  la  France  ;  the 
first  Christians  and  the  most  ancient  Barons  of  France  !  The 
vale  itself  is  one  of  the  most  extensive  and  fruitful,  as  well  as 
one  of  the  loveliest  on  which  the  sun  shines.  And  when  from 
the  top  of  Montmatre  which  rises  up  like  a  cone  in  the  midst  of 
it  to  the  north  of  Paris ;  or  from  the  abrupt  edge  of  Pere-la- 
Chaise,  which  overhangs  the  city  on  the  east;  or  from  the  lofty 
brow  of  Mont  Valerien,  still  more  remote  on  the  west — I  have 
contemplated  with  rapture  the  wide  and  glorious  landscape — I 
have  thought  earth  held  nothing  more  magnificent. 

The  Marne  unites  itself  to  the  Seine,  just  below  Charenton — 
the  place  at  which  the  Protestants  of  Paris  used  to  go  to  worship, 
during  the  period  when  they  were  not  allowed  to  assemble  for  that 
purpose  within  any  walled  town  ;  and  the  united  waters  pass 
through  Paris,  dividing  it  into  two  not  very  unequal  parts,  and 
forming  those  islands,  within  the  compass  of  the  present  city. 
The  Seine  is  here  a  considerable  river.  The  Sequana  of  the 
Latins,  it  rises  far  to  the  south-east  of  Paris,  in  Burgundy,  and 
having  in  its  course  received  nine  rivers  that  may,  with  some 
licence  of  speech,  be  called  navigable,  it  empties  itself  into  the 
British  ocean,  at  Havre  :  a  distance  of  one  hundred  and  twenty- 
five  miles,  by  land,  from  this  city.  Paris,  like  all  the  chief  cities 
of  the  world,  is,  therefore,  so  situated,  as  on  one  hand  to  com- 
mand the  advantages  of  commerce,  without  being  subject  to 
aggressions  by  sea;  and  on  the  other,  to  possess  the  facilities  of 
an  interior  shuation,  without  being  subjected  by  a  too  secluded 
posture  to  the  possibility  of  famine.  No  city  absolutely  interior, 
or  absolutely  commercial,  has  ever  yet  arrived  at  the  first  rank. 
And  it  remains  to  be  seen  what  effect  modern  improvements  in 
facilitating  intercourse,  and  making  defence  more  perfect,  will 
have  in  modifying  this,  along  with  other  laws  of  social  existence. 

From  the  top  of  the  column  in  the  place  Vendome,  towards 
the  western  end  of  the  city,  or  from  the  cupola  of  the  Pantheon 
on  the  hill  of  St.  Jacques,  in  the  south-eastern  portion,  a  superb 


22 


MEMORANDA    OF 


view  is  obtained  of  the  city  itself,  as  it  spreads  out  like  a  cliarl^ 
under  your  feet.  The  largest  and  lowest  down  the  river  of  the 
three  islands,  called,  Isle  de  la  Cite,  is  of  considerable  magnitude^- 
and  is  completely  covered  with  ancient,  lofty  Iiouses,  built  of 
grey  cut  stone,  and  separated  by  narrow  and  irregular  streets. 
This  is  the  only  part  of  Paris,  that  existed  while  the  Romans- 
knew  it,  and  it  is  that  which  Cgesar  calls  Civitas  Parisiorum — 
after  the  Parish,  a  nation  of  Celtic  Gaul ;  while  the  name  of 
Lutetia,  given  to  it  by  Strabo,  is  still  preserved,  as  one  may  see 
on  the  pannels  of  a  certain  kind  of  hackney  coach,  in  the  com- 
mon name  of  Lutecienne.  Just  above  the  island  now  described^ 
is  another  and  smaller  one,  called  Isle  St.  Louis,  which  is  in 
length  about  1,800  French  feet,  and  is  also  inhabited.  The  third 
and  smallest  one,  being  also  the  one  highest  up  the  river,  is  not 
built  on  ;  it  is  used  as  a  depot  for  fire  wood. 

These  islands  are  connected  with  the  banks  of  the  river  on 
either  side,  by  several  bridges  ;  of  which,  counting  all  that  unite 
the  various  portions  of  the  city,  there  must  be  above  twenty. — 
These  are  built  either  of  stone  or  iron  ;  some  of  them  are  orna- 
mented with  statues,  and  elegant  railings  ;  and  while  they  afford 
many  exceedingly  striking  views  of  the  neighbouring  parts  of 
the  city,  add  greatly  to  the  picturesque  character  of  the  scenery. 
The  river  is  broad,  rapid,  and  of  good  depth.  Its  sides  walled 
up  with  cut  stone,  and  its  banks  flanked  by  wide  promenades  ; 
while  its  surface  is  covered  with  multitudes  of  bathing  houses, 
s-wimming  schools,  washing  boats,  and  similar  conveniences. 

Paris  may  be  considered  as  divided  into  two  portions,  the 
interior  and  the  exterior,  separated  from  each  other  by  the 
ancient  fortifications,  or  Boulevarts.  These  embrace  within  their 
circuit  perhaps  one  half  of  the  present  city;  the  remaining  half, 
situated  without  the  Boulevarts,  and  between  them  and  the  bar- 
riers, or  gates  in  the  outer  wall,  is  divided  into  a  number  of  sub- 
urbs, called  Faubourgs.  The  Boulevarts  themselves  have  been 
converted  into  wide  and  magnificent  streets,  built  up  thickly  on, 
both  sides,  and  planted  with  trees;  and  make  the  circuit  of  the 
city  with  one  of  the  grandest  promenades  in  the  world.  Several 
of  the  leading  thoroughfares  running  pretty  nearly  towards  the 


FOREIGN   TRAVEL.  23 

t^rdinal  points,  intersect  each  other  in  central  situations,  and 
make  ihe  coup  d'  oeii,  at  once  striking  and  simple.  Such  is  the 
external  aspect  of  this  renowned  city,  built  in  a  wide  plain, 
gradually  sloping,  on  both  sides,  towards  the  river.  The  houses 
are  generally  five  or  six  stories  high,  with  a  story  or  two  more 
in  the  roof.  They  are  built  of  hewn  stone,  are  covered  with 
slate  or  tyle,  and  are  ranged  along  well  paved  streets,  which,  in 
the  new  parts  of  the  town,  are  wide  and  regular,  with  side  walks ; 
but  in  the  old,  narrow,  and  sometimes  perversely  irregular,  I 
shall  not  now  attempt  to  speak  of  its  interior  condition. 

We  ai-rived  in  the  afternoon  of  Saturday,  and  had  little  diffi- 
culty in  getting  pleasantly  accommodated.  The  Rue  Rivoli,  is 
occupied  principally  with  hotels.  At  one  of  these,  the  hotel 
Windsor,  we  were  soon  comfortably  settled,  in  an  apartment 
containing  seven  pieces,  on  the  second  floor;  such  being  the 
terms  used  to  express  a  suit  of  seven  rooms,  in  the  third  story. 
For  these  we  were  to  pay  twenty  francs  a  day,  for  as  long  or  as 
short  a  period  as  we  chose  to  occupy  them  ;  and  might  use  all,  or 
half  of  them,  as  we  thought  fit;  all  went  together,  and  cost  no 
more  than  part  would  have  done.  Every  thing  else  was  extra, 
and  to  be  paid  for  at  fixed  rates,  and  might  be  called  for  or  not 
at  our  option—and  of  what  quality,  in  what  quantity,  and  at 
what  time  we  pleased. 

I  was  roused  on  the  Sabbath  morning  by  military  music. — 
This  is  the  day  of  parade.  Early  on  the  morning  of  its  weekly 
recurrence,  in  the  Place  Carousal,  which  adjoins  the  east  court 
of  the  palace  of  the  Thuileries,  a  strong  detachment  of  infantry 
were  passing  under  my  windows  ;  where  they  passed  at  the  same 
Itour  every  morning  afterwards,  until  my  eyes  became  so  accus- 
tomed to  their  crimson  pantaloons,  blue  coats,  white  belts,  and 
bell  crowned  caps,  and  ray  ears  so  familiar  with  their  martial 
music,  that  I  soon  became  as  indifferent  to  them  as  I  saw  every 
feody  else  was.  It  is  a  national  peculiarity  of  the  French,  I 
think,  that  they  never  form  themselves  into  those  rabble  routs, 
that  in  America,  but  still  n^ore  in  England,  flock  about  the 
streets,  after  every  thing  that  excites  them.  I  have  very  ofteii 
seen  <a  hundred  musicians,  passing  along  braying  forth  all  sorts 


24  MEMORANDA    OF 

of  enormous  sounds — and  not  only  not  a  single  ragged  boy  or 
idle  down  escorting  them,  but  the  people  in  the  streets  hardly 
turning  their  eyes  to  look  after  them.  Whereas  in  England, 
even  the  setting  off  of  a  stage  coach,  which  has  perhaps  started 
for  twenty  years  from  the  same  place,  and  nearly  at  the  same 
moment,  will  invariably  command  the  solemn,  fixed  and  inter- 
ested attention  of  John  Bull,  to  such  a  degree,  that  it  is  some- 
times troublesome  to  get  in  and  out,  for  the  crowd  which  so 
great  an  event  collects. 

I  had  ascertained  that  the  Rev.  Mr.  Wilks,  who  is  an  English- 
man, but  who  has  lived  for  many  years  in  Paris,  and  been  the 
instrument  of  much  good  here,  preached  regularly  in  English, 
in  a  chapel  in  the  Rue  Taitbout,  near  the  Boulevartdes  Italiens  ; 
and  thither  at  the  appointed  hour  I  took  my  way.  Before  I 
reached  the  appointed  place,  1  was  mournfully  convinced  that 
France,  as  a  nation,  has  no  Sabhath  day  ;  not  only  no  Sabbath 
consecrated  to  the  service  of  God,  and  the  contemplation  of 
spiritual  things,  but  no  civil  observance  even,  by  which  the 
people  should  rest  from  labour.  As  I  passed  along  under  the 
lofty  colonade,  that  skirts  the  Rue  Rivoli,  and  the  Rue  Castig- 
lione,  the  shops  of  all  kinds  were  open,  and  the  people  at  their 
usual  employments.  This  was  not,  indeed,  universal;  but  the 
cases  in  which  it  was  different,  were  much  the  smaller  number. 
And  there  was  no  where  manifest,  any  sort  of  appearance  of 
a  sense  of  shame,  or  any  evidence  that  the  people  considered 
themselves  engaged  improperly.  I  passed  several  points,  at 
which  small  corps  of  the  military  are  always  stationed;  as  the 
public  offices  in  the  Place  Vendome,  and  the  depot  of  the  Fire 
Department,  in  the  Rue  de  la  Paix — and  nothing  manifested 
that  it  was  a  day  of  unusual  import  either  to  the  civil  or  military 
departments  of  the  city.  Upon  the  Boulevart  as  \  advanced, 
the  labourers  who  were  employed  through  the  week  in  re-paving 
and  grading  a  part  of  it,  were  engaged  by  scores  in  their  various 
employments;  and  before  I  had  finished  a  short  walk,  I  passed 
two  stations  of  persons  of  the  lowest  class,  street  porters,  and 
at  both  they  were  sitting  upon  their  barrows  at  the  corner  of 
the  streets,  playing  cards. 


FOREIGN    TRAVEL.  '  _       25 

When  I  reached  the  place  of  worship,  I  found  it  situated  up  a 
sort  of  court  in  the  rear  of  the  houses,  occupying  that  portion  of 
ground,  which  in  America,  is  used  as  a  back  yard,  in  our  towns ; 
but  which,  in  all  large  European  cities,  is  compactly  built  up 
and  appropriated  to  such  uses  as  seek  quietude,  or  such  employ- 
ments as  would  offend  the  public  eye.  I  found  a  few  words  in 
French  over  the  door  of  the  inner  court,  informing  those  who 
passed  by,  that  Christian  worship  was  celebrated  in  that  place, 
by  persons  not  supported  by  the  stale.  The  latter  part  of  the 
statement  referred  to  matters  which  I  did  not  then  understand ; 
and  passing  up  two  wide  flights  of  steps,  I  found  myself  on  the 
third  floor,  as  we  should  say,  in  a  very  handsome,  lofty  and 
tastefully  arranged  circular  apartment,  which  with  its  two 
ranges  of  small  galleries,  would  hold  four  or  five  hundred  people. 
It  was  full ;  the  service  had  already  commenced ;  and  I  found 
myself  for  the  first  time,  in  the  midst  of  one  of  the  worshipping 
assemblies  of  the  ancient,  persecuted,  and  heroic  Reformed 
Church  of  France.  I  was  taken  entirely  by  surprise ;  and  as 
the  memory  of  Calvin,  and  Farel,  and  Viret,  and  Beza,  crowded 
upon  me,  my  heart  swelled  with  overpowering  emotion.  I 
turned  my  eyes  from  side  to  side,  upon  the  sedate  and  peculiar 
looking  audience  ;  and  as  I  realized  that  these  were  indeed  the 
descendents  of  the  heroic  companions  of  Henry  the  Great,  who 
deemed  their  religious  liberties  cheaply  bought,  at  the  price  of 
above  forty  years  of  incessant  war;  the  children  of  those  vic- 
tims of  the  Jesuits  and  of  Louis  the  XIV.,  and  of  that  century 
of  wars  and  wrongs  which  Catholic  France  had  heaped  upon 
her  best  people,  until  the  revolution,  with  its  iron  hand,  brake 
tyrant  and  martyr,  and  bigot,  all  in  pieces;  my  eyes  overflowed 
with  tears,  and  I  bowed  my  head  in  profiiund  recognition  of  this 
affecting  proof,  that  our  God  is  a  God  that  keepeth  covenant, 
and  sheweth  mercy  to  the  thousandth  generation  of  them  that 
love  him  and  keep  his  commandments ! 

The  person  who  officiated,  I  was  told,  was  Mr.  Grandpiere, 

one  of  the  associated  pastors  of  the  congregation,  which  like 

most  others  in  France,  has  several.    It  was  the  day  of  their 

communion.    The  services  were  conducted  nearly  as  similar 

Vol.  II.— 4 


26  MEMORANDA    OF 

,  services  are  throughoui  all  the  Presbyterian  churches  in  the 
I  world,  of  which  some  of  the  reformed  churches  of  France 
/  afforded  amongst  the  first  models,  after  the  commencement  of 
'  the  reformation.  The  dress  of  the  minister  was  entirely  plain  ; 
he  had  neither  gown,  band,  nor  even  gloves,  in  all  which  I  think 
he  followed  his  master's  fashion.  He  used  in  parts  of  the  ser- 
vice, a  very  short  prepared  form,  to  which,  however,  I  heard  no 
responses ;  but  the  singing,  the  reading  of  the  Scriptures,  the 
extemporaneous  prayer  in  a  standing  posture,  the  preaching 
entirely  without  notes,  as  I  suppose  the  apostles  always  preached, 
were  in  accordance  with  the  best  models,  in  my  own  beloved 
church  and  country.  In  all  outward  respects  the  manner  of  the 
preacher  seemed  to  me  nearly  without  decided  fault ;  and  as  far 
as  I  could  gather  the  matter  of  his  discourse,  and  follow  him  in 
its  progress,  it  was  appropriate,  earnest,  and  tender.  The  ele- 
ments were  distributed  to  sixty  or  seventy  persons,  who  gathered, 
at  two  different  times,  around  a  table  that  stood  just  before  the 
pulpit,  and  received  the  emblems  of  the  dying  love  of  Christ,  in 
a  standing  posture.  M.  Audebez,  the  other  pastor  of  the  church, 
aided  in  this  part  of  the  service.  I  observed  amongst  the  audi- 
ence, several  persons  in  complete  uniform,  who  seemed  to  take 
much  interest  in  all  that  passed,  and  remained  amongst  the  last 
after  the  services  of  the  morning  were  over.  They  were  there 
by  order  of  government,  to  assist  at  the  meeting — such  being 
ihe  polite  expression  to  denote  the  surveillance,  which  in  France 
is  extended  to  every  act  of  every  hum.an  being.  Every  where 
you  go,  you  find  soldiers  ;  every  thing  you  do,  is  under  the  eye 
of  the  police.  And  although  those  who  conduct  themselves 
properly  are  not  often  molested,  yet  every  human  being,  stranger, 
resident,  or  citizen,  it  is  aH  the  same,  are  under  the  incessant 
observation  of  a  sleepless  police,  supported  by  more  than  a 
million  of  armed  men,  of  whom  about  one  third  do  nothing  else 
\^  but  play  soldier. 
*^'  In  the  afternoon  of  the  same  day,  I  returned,  and  worshipped 
at  the  same  place,  with  the  English  congregation,  with  which  I 
had  expected  to  meet  in  the  morning.  1  was  surprised  to  see  a 
mere  handful  of  people  gathered  together;  especially  when  1 


FOREING    TRAVEL.  27 

recollected,  tiiat  the  worthy  individual  who  preaches  to  them, 
had  been  labouring  nnany  years  in  this  city,  and  that  there  are 
generally  many  thousands  of  persons  in  it,  who  speak  English 
better  than  any  other  language.  There  ought  to  be  very  strong 
and  very  unusual  indications  of  providence,  in  a  day  like  this,  to 
justify  a  nainister  of  the  gospel,  to  make  it  the  chief  or  even  a 
principal  business  of  his  life,  to  devote  himself  to  a  single  sermon 
a  week,  to  forty  or  fifty  people,  most  of  whom  are  transient,  or 
within  reach  of  other  means  of  grace.  I  had  other  opportunities 
of  attending  this  service,  which  I  found  about  as  I  firsf  witnessed 
it.  It  is  conducted  in  the  same  manner  that  the  Independents  of 
England,  to  whom  Mr.  Wilks  belongs,  conduct  their  services. — 
Some  months  subsequently  to  the  period  at  which  the  foregoing 
sentiments  were  written,  I  was  called  in  providence  to  preach  a 
number  of  times  in  this  chapel ;  and  saw  abundant  reason  to  be 
convinced,  that  there  might  be  established  in  Paris,  with  the 
divine  blessing,  a  strong  church,  worshipping  in  our  language, 
upon  strictly  evangelical  principles. 

About  sun  set,  I  walked  into  the  Jardin  des  Thuileries,  which 
lay  just  under  our  window,  separated  from  the  range  of  houses 
of  which  our  hotel  constituted  one,  only  by  a  street.  These 
famous  gardens,  which  now  are  not  indeed  gardens  at  all,  are 
the  pride  and  glory  of  the  Parisians,  At  their  eastern  extremity 
is  the  Palais  des  Thuileries,  the  western  front  of  which,  occupies 
the  entire  eastern  base  of  the  gardens,  stretching  out  to  the 
enormous  length  of  three  hundred  and  thirty  seven  yards.  I 
will  not  now  speak  of  this  palace.  The  garden  bordered  on  its 
southern  side  by  a  wide  quay,  which  separates  it  from  the  Seine, 
stretches  out  towards  the  west  from  the  palace,  in  a  rectangular 
form,  far  enough  to  embrace  in  its  circuit  no  less  than  sixty-seven 
acres  of  ground.  The  part  which  is  nearest  the  palace,  is  thickly 
ornamented  with  the  finest  modern  statues,  in  marble  and  bronze, 
and  laid  out  in  various  plats,  walks,  and  terraces,  skirted  with 
flowers  and  shrubs.  As  you  recede  from  the  palace,  the  grounds 
become  more  and  more  covered  with  trees,  until  you  pass  half 
way  down  it,  and  find  yourself  in  the  midst  of  the  most  dense 
fgrest  I  had  seen  in  any  part  of  Europe.     The  whole  is  inter- 


28  MEMORANDA    OF 

spersed  with  pools  of  water,  and  wide  promonades ;  and  being 
thrown  constantly  open,  is  constantly  traversed  by  groups  of 
people,  who  use  and  rejoice  in  it,  as  if  it  were  the  private  estate 
of  each.  Here  are  crowds  of  children  dancing;  there  students 
reading  in  the  cool  shade  ;  farther  on,  hundreds  seated  in  plain 
chairs  that  belong  to  the  place,  and  double  as  many  hundreds 
more,  walking  up  and  down  the  long  avenues.  I  mingled  insen- 
sibly among  the  crowd,  and  was  gradually  drawn  towards  the 
western  barrier  of  the  garden.  Here  formerly  stood  the  moat 
and  bridge,  so  famous  during  the  former  revolution,  under  the 
name  of  the  PontTournant,  which  separated  the  gardens  from 
what  was  then  called  the  Place  Louis  XV.,  afterwards  Place  de 
la  Revolution,  but  now  Place  de  la  Concorde.  At  present  a 
wide  gateway  admitted  me,  with  the  increasing  multitude,  upon 
this  awful  spot,  and  my  feet  trod  with  horror,  where  such  torrents 
of  blood  had  been  unjustly  shed.  Here  stood  the  guillotine  of 
the  days  of  terror ! — That  horrid  scaffold,  upon  which,  in  the 
name  of  liberty,  and  at  the  feet  of  a  statue  erected  to  her,  nearly 
three  thousand  victims  perished  during  the  two  years  and  three 
months,  which  terminated  on  the  3rd  of  May,  1 795. 

And  yet  it  is  a  lovely  spot.  And  if  one  could  forget  for  a 
moment  the  brutal  past,  let  him  stand  in  the  midst  of  this  ample 
space  seven  hundred  and  fifty  by  five  hundred  feet,  during  the 
last  moments  of  a  summer's  day,  and  look  around  him  on  a 
scene  full  of  life  and  richness.  Behind  him  is  the  vast  palace  of 
the  Thuileries,  with  the  unrivalled  garden  from  which  he  has 
just  emerged,  between  him  and  it.  On  his  right  are  streets  of 
palaces,  they  can  be  called  no  less;  and  looking  up  the  Rue 
Royale,  which  on  that  side  terminates  the  Boulevarts,  and  seems 
to  break  into  the  Place  of  Concorde — in  the  distance  is  the 
church  de  la  Madelaine,  built  of  white  marble,  and  furnishing 
one  of  the  most  perfect  models  of  Corinthian  architecture,  that 
exists.  To  the  left,  across  the  beautiful  river,  over  the  most 
beautiful  and  richly  decorated  of  all  their  bridges,  is  the  Palace 
of  Bourbon,  in  which  the  Chamber  of  Deputies  holds  its  sessions 
— and  in  the  distance  the  golden  looking  dome  of  the  hotel  des 
Invalides.    Right  in  front  are  the  Champs  Elysees,  the  Elysian 


FOREIGN    TRAVEL.  29 

Fields  I  consecrated  to  Marie  de  Medici  and  Madame  de  Pom- 
padour! Tiiey  are,  in  fact,  a  forest  nine  hundred  and  fifty 
yards  long,  stretching  continuously  with  the  garden  and  place,  I 
have  already  described  ;  and  varying  in  width  from  four  hundred 
to  seven  hundred  yards  from  the  river  lo  the  line  of  the  Rue 
Rivoli  extended. 

Engrossed  with  my  own  thoughts,  I  had  been  carried  slowly 
onward  with  the  mass  of  living  creatures,  which  seemed  indeed 
considerable,  but  which  in  the  absence  of  any  knowledge  of  their 
habits,  I  could  not  say  was  unusual.  It  had  been  for  some  time, 
however,  getting  more  and  more  troublesome,  to  keep  out  of  the 
way  of  the  swords  which  every  body  that  wears  a  uniform, 
wears  here,  night  and  day,  1  believe  ;  and  which  seem  hung  by 
belts  and  straps  most  absurdly  disproportioned  to  the  dimensions 
of  their  wearers.  Perhaps  a  greater,  and  also  an  increasing 
annoyance  was,  the  increase  of  the  dogs,  of  all  sorts  and  sizes, 
led  in  strings  of  all  colours,  by  people  of  all  ages  and  sexes.  I 
began  to  realize,  in  short,  that  I  was  getting  into  an  excessive 
crowd,  and  lo  meditate  an  escape;  when  just  at  the  entrance  of 
the  Champs  Elysees,  1  was  ushered  upon  a  scene  which  baffles 
all  possibility  of  description. 

It  began  to  be  night-fall ;  but  the  forest  was  lighted  up  with 
innumerable  lamps,  in  all  directions,  as  far  as  the  eye  could  reach. 
The  great  avenue  of  Neuilly  passing  through  the  centre  of  it, 
was  lined  with  lofty  pillars,  apparently  of  temporary  construc- 
tion ;  which  were  decorated  with  flags,  and  strongly  illuminated. 
Rows  of  shops  lined  the  streets  and  walks  that  intersect  the 
forest.  In  the  rear  of  these  were  other  places  for  a  thousand 
kinds  of  idle  amusement ;  and  the  whole  interstices  filled  with 
tables,  carts,  jugglers,  musicians,  gamblers,  dancers,  and  persons 
engaged  in  every  other  conceivable  employment  that  was  utterly 
outrageous  on  the  Sabbath  day,  I  exclaimed  within  myself, 
what  on  earth  can  these  people  mean?  What  are  they  about? 
Is  all  Paris  mad  ? 

It  is  said  that  this  city  contains  nearly  a  million  of  souis ;  it 
seemed  as  if  the  whole  had    been  emptied  upon  the  Champs 
Elysees.     The  first  booth  I   came  to,  was  a  print  shop ;  aad 
4* 


30  MEMORANDA    OF 

over  it,  in  capital  letters,  the  word  *  Moskwa.'  The  fellow,  I 
suppose,  was  in  the  Russian  campaign,  was  my  reflection,  as  I 
was  pressed  gently  on  by  the  moving  mass,  to  the  next.  That 
was  a  China  store,  and  over  it,  '  Castiglione.'  What  can  that 
mean?  Perhaps  the  mistress  of  it  has  another  shop  in  that 
street ;  for  surely  she  was  never  a  soldier.  By  this  time  my 
curiosity  was  awakened,  and  1  found  over  every  booth,  the 
name  of  some  grand  victory  of  the  French  ;  and  what  was 
more,  the  whole  of  the  people  seemed  as  much  interested  as 
myself  in  examining  them. 

I  turned  into  another  walk.  There  was  a  woman  with  a 
gaming  table,  on  which  the  bets  were  decided  by  a  ball  of  ivory, 
shot  by  a  spring  out  of  a  diminutive  cannon,  against  a  little 
board,  from  which  it  rebounded,  and  settled  in  a  hole  whose 
various  colour  decided  the  hazard.  Children  were  her  custom- 
ers, and  cakes  and  candies  the  stakes  she  set  against  their  copper 
coins.  She  was  but  one,  of  a  class  apparently  innumerable  ; 
and  her  contrivance  to  cultivate  one  of  the  most  furious  and 
absorbing  passions  that  infests  the  human  soul,  but  one  of  a 
numberless  class  scattered  around  her  in  all  possible  shapes  and 
degrees. 

I  passed  on.  There  were  all  sorts  of  instruments  for  gymnas- 
tic exercises,  but  especially  every  sort  of  contrivance  for  swing- 
ing! Some  went  round  in  a  horizontal  plane ;  some  vertically, 
with  fearful  violence.  To  the  ends  of  timbers  fastened  at  the 
centre,  were  all  sorts  of  fixtures,  attached  in  a  manner  that 
allowed  them  to  swing  freely ;  and  these  being  occupied  by 
persons  of  all  descriptions,  were  whirled  through  the  air.  At 
one  end  was  a  large  basket  full  of  children ;  and  at  the  opposite 
a  great  clown  astride  a  mimic  horse.  At  the  end  of  another 
timber,  the  image  of  a  carriage  body  was  full  of  half  grown 
girls;  balanced  perhaps,  by  a  couple  who  might  be, and  possibly 
were,  their  grand  parents. 

There  was  something,  however,  beyond,  to  which  the  crowd 
seemed  to  be  tending.  On  the  right  and  left,  at  intervals,  were 
great  sheds,  in  which,  on  elevated  seats  in  the  centre,  bands  of 
musicians  sat;  while  multitudes  of  all  ages,  and  apparently  of  all 
ranks,  danced  to  the  loud  sounds  which  filled  the  air;  and  uniting, 


FOREIGN    TRAVEL.  31 

with  the  brilliant  light,  and  the  wild  scene  around,  overcame 
you  with  the  strange  sensations  of  a  dream.  I  paused  again 
and  again,  to  behold,  with  mingled  grief  and  astonishment,  the 
things  upon  which  I  had  so  strangely  fallen ;  and  as  often  im- 
pelled hy  the  impulse  which  seemed  to  control,  as  one  mind,  the 
overflowing  multitude,  I  gave  way  to  the  universal  tendency, 
towards  the  western  extremity  of  the  forest. 

In  that  countless  multitude,  there  was  not  one  being  whose 
name  I  knew,  or  who  knew  mine ;  not  one,  perhaps,  whose  des- 
tin}"-  would  be  in  the  least  particular  affected,  by  any  thing  that 
could  befal  me,  or  whose  non-existence  could  in  the  slightest  de- 
gree have  touched  me.  What  a  sense  of  unutterable  loneliness, 
insignificance,  and  helplessness,  belongs  to  such  reflections ! — 
And  yet  we  struggle  in  the  midst  of  our  generation,  as  if  all  its 
interests  were  in  exact  coincidence  with  all  our  efibrts  and 
hopes;  and  forget  that  coming  hour  of  eternal  judgment,  when 
in  our  single,  naked  weakness,  and  mutual  worthlessness,  we 
shall  gather  in  masses,  to  which  this  is  nothing,  before  that  bar, 
which  the  chief  influence  of  our  mutual  example  has  taught  us 
to  despise  ! 

By  this  time  I  had  reached  the  Etoile,  or  Star  of  the  Champs 
Elysees ;  a  great  vacant  space  of  a  circular  shape,  that  forms 
their  western  termination,  as  the  Place  of  Concorde,  does  their 
eastern.  But  the  wide  Avenue  de  Neuilly,  which  passed  through 
them,  commenced  again  beyond  the  Etoile;  and  for  the  space  of 
seven  or  eight  hundred  yards  further,  was  jammed  to  excess 
with  footmen,  horses,  and  carriages*  Here  I  first  met  the  ebb 
of  the  living  tide;  and  when  we  arrived  at  the  Barriere  de 
Neuilly,  in  the  outer  wall  of  Paris,  which  terminated  at  once 
the  avenue  and  the  city,  I  participated  in  a  squeeze,  the  like  of 
which,  the  most  ardent  devotee  of  fashion  has  rarely  enjoyed  in 
the  saloons  of  the  god  of  M\y.  The  Barriere  stood  before  us. 
In  the  centre  was  an  enormous  iron  gate,  through  which  horses 
and  carriages  were  attempting  to  pass,  in  both  directions,  in  a 
confused  mass.  On  both  sides,  at  some  distance,  were  two 
smaller  gates,  through  which  pedestrians  were  struggling,  also 
in  opposite  directions.  Before  I  was  aware,  I  found  myself  out 
of  the  proper  line  of  direction,  and  squeezed  amid  a  mass  of  all 


32  MEMORANDA    OF 

sorts  of  human  beinojs,  with  all  those  extraordinary  appurte* 
nances  which  a  Parisian  only  considers  part  of  himself,  or  her- 
self—against the  tall  iron  railing,  twenty  or  thirty  feet  from  the 
gate-way,  through  which  we  were  to  pass,  if  that  were  possible. 
1  buttoned  up  my  coat — set  my  teeth  hard — and  prepared  for 
what  seemed  inevitable.  It  was  a  sad  time  for  little  misses  with 
their  gay  apparel.  The  prim  ladies,  who  had  their  arms  clasped 
Ground  the  small,  white,  pug-nosed  dogs,  of  which  these  people 
are  so  fond,  seemed  resolved  on  bearing  any  evil  themselves, 
rather  than  risk  the  least  injury  to  Iheir  idols.  A  most  dashy 
looking  dandy,  my  rear  rank  man,  in  his  solicitude  for  a  delicate 
httle  greyhound,  which  he  led  by  a  blue  silk  cord,  got  a-stradd!e 
of  one  of  the  recurved  supporters  of  the  palisades ;  and  I  left  him 
with  his  back  forced  against  the  wall,  and  his  arms  stretched  out 
in  anguish  over  the  dog.  By-and-by,  I  reached  the  gate. — 
There  was  a  sense  of  strangling  for  a  moment,  and  then  I  found 
myself  in  a  space  large  enough  to  take  a  full  breath  ;  and  adjust- 
ing myself  after  the  struggle,  looked  around  upon  the  exhibi- 
tion which  seemed  to  be  the  central  point  of  all  this  excitement. 

I  found  myself  in  the  midst  of  a  vast  circular  area,  into  which 
the  avenue  by  which  I  had  approached  entered  from  the  east, 
and  from  which  the  road  to  St.  Germain,  departed  at  the  opposite 
side  ;  on  the  north  and  south  were  broadways,  leading  towards 
Roule  and  Passy.  The  space  between  each  of  these  outlets 
was  divided  into  compartments,  by  immense  temporary  pillars, 
decorated  with  flags  and  shields.  Shields  were  also  arranged 
in  the  intervals,  between  the  pillars ;  and  upon  every  shield  was 
written  in  great  characters,  the  name  of  some  signal  victory 
achieved  by  the  arms  of  France.  There  were  in  all,  a  hundred 
and  twenty-eight  of  these  shields,  and  o"f  cou/se^upon  them  an 
equal  number  of  those  names  which  have  filled  the  world  with 
the  glory  of  France. 

In  the  centre  of  the  circle,  stood  the  great  attraction  of  the 
scene,  the  Arc  de  Treomphe  ;  the  magnificent  triumphal  arch, 
destined  to  commemorate  at  once,  the  military  greatness,  the 
wealth  and  public  spirit,  and  the  advancement  in  the  fine  arts 
of  this  extraordinary  people.  This  great  national  work,  which 
had  been  projected  by  Napoleon,  as  far  back  as  1806,  and  upcii 


FOREIGN    TRAVEL.  33 

which  throughout  the  greater  part  of  the  intervenincr  thirty  years, 
nearly  incessant  labour  had  been  bestowed,  under  the  direction 
of  the  most  accomplished  architects  of  the  land — was  at  length 
completed! — This  was  the  Sabbath  day  of  the  fete  of  the  Revo- 
Jftition  of  July ;  and  so  of  course,  the  great  day,  as  in  all  their 
fetes.  The  inauguration  of  this  triumphal  arch,  the  removing  of 
the  scaffolding  and  the  covering,  and  the  first  and  grand  display 
of  it,  to  all  Paris  assembled,  was  to  have  been  the  great  act  of  the 
great  fete.  These  were  all  facts  of  which  I  was  not  aware  till  I 
was  in  their  midst.  And  though  the  caution  of  the  French  king, 
or  the  prudence  of  his  ministers,  prevented  him  from  being  pres- 
ent, or  taking  any  part  in  any  of  the  events  which  had  transpired 
during  the  progress  of  the  celebration ;  the  interest,  and  indeed  the 
enthusiasm  of  the  people,  seemed  to  be  sustained  to  the  very  last. 

The  arch  itself,  is  indiscribably  grand.  Situated  upon  an  emi- 
nence fronting  the  Thuileries,  it  is  distinctly  visible  from  almost 
every  quarter  of  the  city.  Built  of  fine  white  marble  from  the 
quarries  of  Chateau  Landon,  it  lifts  itself  up,  in  proportions  abso- 
lutely gigantic ;  its  height  being  152  feet,  its  breadth  137,  and  its 
thicknesses.  Its  interior  is  composed  of  two  transverse  arches, 
of  immense  dimensions,  which  intersect  each  other  in  the  centre, 
in  the  form  of  a  cross.  These  arches  are  of  unequal  sizes ;  the 
one  which  looks  east  and  west,  being  much  the  largest.  The 
interior  faces  of  ihe  large  one,  are  covered  with  the  names  of 
victories;  the  corresponding  faces  of  the  small  one,  with  those 
of  the  generals  who  achieved  them ;  the  outer  faces  of  the 
whole,  with  groups  of  sculpture,  gorgeous  in  the  highest  degree, 
representing  events  appropriate  to  the  great  work.  The  whole 
is  said  to  have  been  accomplished  at  an  expense  little  short  of 
ten  millions  of  francs. 

I  was  wearied  ;  completely  exhausted ;  and  stepping  into  a 
public  conveyance,  not  to  be  distinguished  from  one  of  our  gigs, 
the  driver  made  his  way  from  the  crowd,  as  if  going  from  Paris  ; 
then  turning  to  the  north  and  entering  the  city,  by  the  Barriere 
du  Roule  and  the  Rue  du  Faubourg  St.  Honere,  I  was  speedily 
set  down  at  my  lodgings ;  having  derived  from  the  events  of 
my  first  day  in  Paris,  food  enough  for  solemn  thought ! 


34  MEMORANDA   OF 


CHAPTER   IV, 


Religious  Establishment  of  Paris— Papal  Clergy— The  Concordat— Dress  of  the 
Ecclesiastics — Archbishoprick  of  Paris — Nuns — The  Churches— Cathedral  of 
Notre  Dame— A  Marriage'-The  Choir — Coronation  of  Napoleon— Pius  VII.— 
A  Funeral. 


The  French  Charter  sworn  to  by  Louis  Phillippe  the  first, 
on  the  ninth  day  of  August,  1830,  established  perfect  religious 
liberty.  "  Each  may  profess  his  own  religion  with  equal  liberty, 
and  shall  receive  for  his  mode  of  worship,  the  same  protection ;" 
are  the  comprehensive  words  of  the  fifth  article.  It  was  no 
doubt,  however,  true  in  terms,  though  far  otherwise  in  fact, 
as  the  next  article  asserts :  "  that  the  Catholic,  Apostolic,  and 
Roman  religion  is  professed  by  the  majority  of  the  French." — In 
speaking,  therefore,  of  the  religious  establishments  of  Paris,  it  is 
right  to  give  the  precedence  to  it. 

The  Catholic  clergy  of  Paris  consist  of  one  Archbishop  ; 
twelve  cures,  in  charge  of  the  principal  parish  churches  in  the 
twelve  arrondissements,  who  are  associated  in  various  relations 
in  those  churches,  with  twenty  other  priests  ;  to  whom  are  to 
be  added,  twenty-one  various  metropolitan  officers,  all  priests 
of  course,  personally  associated  with  the  Archbishop ;  then  to 
these,  seventeen  others,  composing  the  chapter  of  Paris ;  and 
then  thirty-four  others,  who  are  honorary  Canons ;  besides 
twenty  more  who  are  professors,  directors,  &.c.  fcc,  and  we 
have  in  the  official  list  of  the  Government  for  1836,  one  hundred 
and  twenty-five,  who  receive  their  support  from  the  public  treas- 
ury. This,  it  must  be  confessed,  is  a  very  small  supply  for  a 
population  pf  s^  million  of  souls ;    nor  does  it  probablv  even 


FOREIGN    TRAVEL.  35 

approximate  to  the  truth,  merely  for  the  city  itself,  excluding 
the  neighbouring  parishes.  The  actual  number  of  Priests  in 
France,  is  about  ihirty-seven  thousand  five  hundred  ;  and  as 
Paris  contains  about  a  tiiirty-fifth  part  of  the  entire  population 
of  the  kingdom,  it  is  very  certain  that  it  contains  a  full  propor* 
tion  of  the  priests.  So  that  perhaps  eleven  or  twelve  hundred, 
would  not  be  very  far  from  the  mark — if  we  estimate  those  who 
have  no  public  charge,  and  therefore  receiving  no  allowance 
from  the  government,  are  not  found  in  its  lists.  This  would  be 
one  priest  for  every  thousand  souls ;  and  considering  that  a  por- 
tion of  the  people  are  Protestants,  and  a  very  great  multitude 
infidels,  the  allowance  is  ample. 

These  priests  a^re  generally  persons  connected  with  the  lowest 
ranks  of  society.  They  are,  as  a  body,  represented  to  be  desti- 
tute of  learning  and  activity  ;  which  is  very  manifest,  from  the 
paucity  and  worthlessness  of  their  literary  and  scientific  produc- 
tions, in  the  thirty-five  years  which  have  elapsed  since  the  Con- 
cordat between  Bonaparte  and  Pius  VII.,  restored  the  Papal 
church  in  France. — "'Hov,' did  you  find  the  ceremony  ?" — said 
Bonaparte  to  General  Delmas,  as  they  returned  to  the  palace, 
alter  witnessing  the  pomp  with  which  that  famous  act  was 
inaugurated  at  the  church  of  Notre  Dame.  "  It  was  a  pretty 
capuchinade,"  replied  Delmas,  ''and  lacked  nothing  but  the 
million  of  men,  who  have  been  slain  in  destroying  that  which 
you  have  re-estahlished." 

You  occasiooally  meet  a  priest  in  the  streets  of  Paris,  in  his 
official  dress.  It  is  perfectly  black,  except,  perhaps,  a  shirt,  if 
they  wear  one  ;  and  consists  of  an  upper  garment  that  resembles 
exceedingly,  the  old-fashioned  gown  of  an  old  woman.  The 
same  long,  close  sleeves,  and  tight  body ;  the  same  full  skirt, 
and  long  tail,  tucked  up  behind,  as  I  have  a  thousand  times  seen 
labouring  women  hitch  up  theirs,  when  walking  in  the  mud. — 
Under  this,  is  a  tight  pantaloon  or  black  stocking;  and  over  it, 
nearly  always  a  black  sush  of  some  kind,  slung  over  one  shoulder, 
and  under  the  other  arm.  The  dress  is  unbecoming  to  the  last 
degree,  and  seems  to  have  been  made  after  the  female  model, 
only  because  in  the  Bible  men  were  once  forbidden  to  dress  in 


36  MEMORANDA    OF 

this  way.  For  I  have  had  frequent  occasion  to  observe  that 
there  is  not  a  single  distinctive  feature  about  this  extraordinary 
superstition,  which  does  not  seem  intended  to  set  at  naught  some 
expUcit  statement  of  the  holy  Scriptures.  In  the  villages,  a 
cocked  hat,  or  in  Paris,  a  common  one  completes  the  equipment. 

Most  commonly  they  wear,  when  in  the  streets,  a  dress  which 
will  not  allow  them  to  be  distinguished  from  others ;  a  precaution, 
necessary  to  save  themselves  fr-om  public  ridicule.  I  have  had 
repeated  opportunities  to  see  them  uncovered,  and  have  never 
yet  seen  one  with  the  top  of  his  head  shaved.  This  is  the  more 
remarkable,  as  the  Council  of  Trent,  not  only  expressly  com- 
mands it  to  be  done  ;  but  is  very  minute  in  its  directions  about 
the  proportions  which  the  tonsure  is  to  bear,  to  the  increasing 
dignity  and  advancement  of  the  subject.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that 
this  antiquated  folly  will  by-and-by  become  too  absurd  even  for 
superstition  to  endure ;  and  that  as  it  has  been  ascertained  that 
there  is  no  longer  any  piety  in  baldness;  the  equally  happy 
discovery  to  which  there  seems  a  tendency  may  be  soon  made, 
as  it  regards  fantastfc  and  ridiculous  apparel. 

The  Bishoprick  of  Paris  is  said  to  have  been  created  in  the 
middle  of  the  third  century ;  and  the  present  prelate  represents 
himself  to  be  the  hundred  and  eleventh,  who  has  occupied  the 
see.  In  the  year  1694,  the  diocese  was  erected  into  an  arch- 
bishoprick,  since  which  time  thirteen  archbishops  have  governed 
in  it.  Before  the  revolution  of  1789,  the  clergy  of  Paris  possessed 
immense  endowments,  and  amounted,  including  monks  and  nuns, 
to  one  person  in  sixty  in  the  capitol.  Under  the  restoration, 
they  occupied  a  far  more  important  rank  than  at  present.  I 
have  before  me  a  list  of  those  for  this  city,  for  1829,  similar  to 
that  given  on  a  preceding  page  for  1836  ;  and  find  that  instead 
of  amounting  to  only  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  persons,  it 
exceeded  twelve  hundred  and  fifty.  From  the  best  information 
I  can  obtain,  I  state  the  number  of  ntins  in  Paris,  embracing  all 
the  female  professed,  at  seven  hundred  ;  being  in  a  proportion 
of  rather  more  than  one  to  every  two  priests. 

The  churches  of  this  great  city  are  numerous  and  magnificent. 
They  present,  however,  exceedingly  various  styles  of  architec- 


FOREIGN    TRAVEL.  37 

ture,  and  one  may  study  in  them,  the  principles  of  beauty  and 
grandeur,  as  applied  to  that  delightful  art,  by  which  lour  or  five 
distinct  and  widely  separated  eras  were  respectively  character- 
ized. A  more  skilful  hand  than  mine,  has  told  us  that  successive 
examples  of  ancient  Gothic,  are  well  preserved  in  the  churches 
of  St.  Germain-des-Pres,  with  its  semicircular  arches  of  the 
tenth  and  eleventh  centuries;  Notre  Dame,  having  the  massive 
castellated  structure  of  the  middle  ages;  the  Sainte  Chapelle. 
which  for  richness  and  delicacy  is  not  surpassed  by  any  similar 
monument  in  Europe,  and  which  St.  Louis,  built  at  an  expense 
of  nearly  three  millions  of  francs,  as  the  depository  of  the  real 
crown  of  thorns,  for  which  he  had  paid  Baldwin,  Emperor  of 
Constantinople,  an  immense  price ;  St.  Gervais,  which  was 
finished  by  Louis  XIII.,  and  is  taken  for  a  striking  specimen  of 
the  beauties  and  defects  of  the  style  of  that  and  the  preceding 
ages  ;  and  St.  Etienne-du-Mont,  standing  near  to  where  Mer- 
cury once  had  a  temple  devoted  to  him,  and  exhibiting  now  in 
the  midst  of  its  light,  bold,  and  singular  architectural  ornaments, 
a  hardly  less  idolatrous  worship  of  St.  Genevieve.  The  trans- 
ition from  the  Gothic  to  the  Greek  and  Roman  styles,  is  thought 
to  be  well  exhibited  in  the  church  of  St.  Eustache,  whose  pro^ 
portions  are  prodigious,  and  its  external  ornaments  most  profuse, 
and  I  thought  most  unsightly.  Specimens  of  the  Roman  style, 
sustained  and  perfected  during  the  reign  of  Louis  XIV.,  are 
preserved  in  the  churches  of  the  Assumption  and  the  Visitation, 
and  in  the  splendid  church  of  the  Hotel-des-Invalides,  near  the 
Champ-de-Mars.  At  the  Military  Hospital  of  Val-de-Grace,  in 
the  church  of  the  same  name,  is  a  fine  specimen  of  the  lofty 
and  capacious  style  of  the  seventeenth  century.  It  was  built 
as  a  sort  of  thank-offering  for  the  birth  of  Louis  XIV.,  whose 
mother  having  been  twenty-two  years  married  without  issue — 
after  his  birth  directed  the  erection  of  this  superb  monument 
of  her  sterility,  her  vows,  and  her  gratitude.  Our  own  era, 
dating  its  origin  in  the  reign  of  Louis  XV.,  or  Louis  XVI., 
exhibits  its  incomparable  superiority  above  those  already  men- 
tioned, nowhere,  more  than  in  this  city.  The  Pantheon,  situ- 
acted  in  the  Place  St.  Genevieve,  on  one  oC  the  highest  summits 
Vol.  II. — 5 


38  MEMORANDA    OF 

embraced  within  the  walls  of  Paris,  is.  after  St.  Peter's  at  Rome, 
and  St.  Paul's  at  London,  (and  hardly  after  the  latter,)  probably 
the  noblest  structure  of  the  kind  that  exists.  The  exquisite 
building  devoted  to  St.  Mary  Magdalene,  now  nearly  completed, 
at  the  end  of  the  Rue  Royale,  is  perfect  in  its  proportions,  and 
in  the  incomparable  finish  of  its  parts.  The  sums  of  money 
spent  on  these  two  last  buildings,  are  incredible.  After  the  res- 
toration of  religion  in  France,  a  hundred  and  twenty  millions 
of  francs  were  expended  by  the  government,  in  restoring  the 
churches  from  the  injuries  inflicted  during  the  revolution. 

1  would  conduct  the  reader  to  the  interior  of  a  few  of  these 
buildings,  that  we  may  be  instructed  by  the  observances  to  which 
they  are  devoted,  or  perhaps  by  the  recollections  which  conse- 
crate them.  Tne  first  of  them  I  visited,  was  the  Cathedral  of 
JS'otre  Dame.  It  is  situated  at  the  upper  end  of  tlie  lie  de  la 
Cite,  and  stands  on  the  spot  once  occupied  by  a  temple  of 
Jupiter.  As  you  approach  its  main  fi-ont,  you  enter  upon  the 
large,  open  Parvis  (or  square)  de  JVotre  Dame  :  having  upon 
your  right  the  immense  Hospital  of  the  Hotel  Dieu  ;  on  two 
other  sides,  rows  of  lofiy  irregular,  and  antiquated  houses — and 
before  you,  this  ancient  edifice,  built  in  the  form  of  a  Latin 
cross,  four  hundred  and  fifteen  feet  long,  by  one  hundred  and 
fifty  wide.  You  stand  in  front  of  one  end,  which  presents  three 
lofty  stories;  the  first  divided  by  three  great  pointed  arches, 
through  which  the  interior  of  the  house  is  reached  from  this 
direction;  the  second  profusely  ornamented  with  carving:-,  and 
arches,  and  circles  of  massive  stone  work  ;  and  the  third,  divided 
into  two  great  square  tower.s  of  open  work,  with  fiat  tops.  You 
enter  a  vast  hall,  divided  by  rows  of  pillars,  with  an  arcried  roof 
of  stone  the  whole  length  of  the  building  and  far  above  your 
head.  Around  the  entire  compass  of  the  house,  are  numeroun 
small  apartments,  each  constituting  a  separate  chapel,  having  its 
own  altar,  its  peculiar  painlinos  or  statues,  its  appropriated 
worship,  its  particular  object  of  invocation,  and  its  own  votaries. 
These  are  ibund  in  almost  every  church :  1  counted  thirty-one 
of  them  here.  In  some,  and  before  others,  persons  were  engaged 
at  their  devotions.     People  came  and   went :  and   the  area  of 


FOREIGN    TRAVEL.  39 

the  room,  towards  the  common  entrance,  was  well  supplied  with 
piain  rush-bottomed  chairs.     Upon  the   backs  of  these,  some 
bowed  themselves  before  a  picture  or  altar;  in  others,  persons 
more  devout  kneeled  on  one  or  both  knees.     At  tiie  same  time, 
many  came  and  went,  as  mere  8{)ectators — while  not  a  i'ew  were 
enga2:ed  in  the  various  employments  that  conscience  or  conve- 
nience dictated  the  performance  of  in  a  church.     Many   were 
tliere,  to  he<r  the  more  conveniently,  and  more  successfully  ;  for 
It  is  surely  not  easy  to  steel  the  heart  to  objects  of  distress,  when 
we  are  in  the  act  of  deploring  our  own  weakness,  and  soliciting 
the  fulfilment  of  our  own  desires.     I    believe   the  conmiand  of 
Christ,  to  crive  to  them  that  ask  of  us,  is  more  literal  than  this 
accute  generation  allows;  and  it  is  besides,  less  painful  to  sup- 
pose we  have  done  a  well  intentioned  act,  to  one  that  did  not 
deserve  it,  or  that  even  made  an  ill  use  of  it ;  than  to  pursue 
those    investigations    whose  issue    might   exhonerate    us    from 
benevolence  ;  or  to  assume  their  general  issue  as  true,  and  there- 
ibre  steadily  refuse  all.     1  confess  it  did  not  awaken  a  pang  of 
self-reproach,  when  I  left  the  church,  and  found  a  gang  of  harri- 
dans, in  a  high  quarrel,  in  the  Parvis,  to  discover  in  the  ring- 
leader an  old  hag,  I  had  given  two  sous  to,  an  hour  before.     It 
is  her  fault  if  she  obtains  by  false  pretences,  or  applies  to  evil 
objects,  the  trifle  which  it  were  my  shame,  and  my  woe,  if  I 
withheld,  to  her  damage.     And  oh  !  if  we  could  realize  the  just 
proportion  between  what  we  receive,  and  what  we  either  deserve 
or  use  aright — we  should  scan  with  a  less  searching  eye  the  sins 
to  which  want  is  prone,  and  relieve  its  sorrows  with  a  more  open 
hand. 

As  we  sauntered  around  the  room,  a  decently  dressed  woman 
of  the  lowest  sort,  came  up  in  great  anxiety  to  our  courier,  and 
hastily  asked  a  few  questions,  which  were  positively,  but  with 
some  embarrassment,  answered  by  two  or  three  noes.  "  What 
did  she  want .'"  said  I.  "  That  I  would  act  as  a  witness  in  a 
marriage  ceremony,"  was  the  reply.  "Call  her  back,  we  will 
do  it  with  great  pleasure ;"  and  our  party  was  conducted  into 
one  of  the  side  chapels,  in  which  all  was  in  readiness,  but  at  a 
stand  for  the  want  of  the  required  number  of  witnesses.     A 


40  MEMORANDA  OF 

priest  Stood  on  the  step  in  from  of  the  altar,  dressed  in  white 
petticoats  with  long  sleeves,  and  with  a  red  coloured  sort  of  yoke 
with  long  ends  over  his  neck,  and  dropping  down  before.  He 
held  a  small  book  in  his  hand  ;  and  at  his  right  side  stood  a  lad 
often  or  twelve  years,  dressed  like  himself,  except  the  yoke; 
and  holding  a  small  whisk,  with  a  handle  about  a  foot  long,  the 
scanty  hairs  in  the  end  of  which  was  wet  with  holy  water.'  In 
front  were  the  parties,  and  between  them  a  pretty  little  boy  two 
or  three  years  old.  It  might  have  been  the  son  of  a  former 
marriage;  or  perhaps  they  should  have  been  sooner  married. 
One  of  the  greatest  evils  society  has  to  bear  from  the  church  of 
Rome,  lies  in  her  assumption  of  a  divine  right  to  make  such 
children  legitimate ;  and  the  crimes  that  too  often  find  an  easy 
excuse  in  the  tardy  exercise  of  this  strange  claim.  The  cere- 
mony commenced.  A  kw  questions  were  asked  and  answered  : 
the  hands  of  the  parties  united  :  a  plate  was  handed  to  them  in 
which  two  small  silver  coins  were  placed  :  a  ring  was  taken  from 
the  finger  of  the  man,  and  drawn  on  that  of  the  woman  :  they 
both  knelt  down,  and  two  men  held  a  long  piece  of  cloth  over 
them  so  as  to  conceal  botti.  This  constituted  their  part  of  the 
ceremony.  In  the  mean-time,  the  priest  read,  ever  and  anon  out 
of  his  little  book,  in  a  tone  of  voice  so  low  as  to  be  almost  inau- 
dible, so  rapid  as  to  be  quite  indistinct,  and  in  a  manner  so  inco- 
herent, by  skipping  about  from  passage  to  passage,  that  it  was 
a  mere  impossibility  to  comprehend  what  he  said.  Sometimes 
lie  turned  towards  the  altar, — then  again  towards  the  people — 
and  then  towards  the  altar  again.  Several  times  he  put  his 
fingers  to  the  hair  of  the  whisk,  which  the  boy  held  by  his  side ; 
and  several  times  took  it  and  made  motions  in  the  air,  like  a 
conjurer.  Once  he  fingered  the  candles  that  sat  behind  him  on 
the  altar  ;  but  I  did  not  see  for  what  end.  In  the  intervals,  a 
saturnine  looking  fellow,  dressed  in  a  half  military,  half  clerical 
costume,  who  stood  off,  cried,  amen.  After  about  thirty  minutes* 
dumb  show  of  the  kind  I  have  described,  a  general  movement 
showed  that  the  affiiir  was  complete.  If  I  had  not  known  it 
was  to  be  a  marriage  ceremony,  I  should  have  been  exceedingly 


FOREIGN    TRAVEL.  41 

puzzled  to   tell   what  it   was.     I  should  certainly  never  have  ""> 
guessed  it  to  be  a  sacrament. 

About  one»third  of  the  church  is  separated  from  the  remainder, 
by  a  screen  of  antique  railing,  behind  which  is  the  grand  altar ; 
and  around  the  walls,  are  successive  chapels,  separated  by  another 
circular  screen  of  solid  construction,  from  the  area  in  front  of 
the  aliar.  The  paintings  in  these  chapels  are  finer  than  those 
in  the  chapels,  in  the  more  exposed  part  of  the  church ;  and 
those  in  the  choir  itself,  are  of  an  order  still  superior.  There 
are  eight  of  them  of  large  proportions,  representing  the  birth  of 
the  Virgin,  by  Champagne;  the  visitation  of  the  Virgin,  by 
Jouvenet ;  the  annunciation  to  the  Virgin,  by  Halle ;  the  assump- 
tion of  the  Virgin,  by  De  la  Hyre  ;  the  presentation  of  the  Virgin, 
by  Champagne,  &c.  &c.  In  the  religion  of  the  modern  Romans, 
the  name  of  Juno,  is  changed  to  that  of  Mary  ;  but  in  other 
respects  the  worshipof  their  ancestors  is  marvellously  preserved. 

Our  guide,  a  respectable  looking  female,  suddenly  stopped  in 
front  of  the  great  altar,  and  pointing  to  a  spot,  indicated  by  a 
large  star,  wrought  of  the  costly  marble  of  which  the  pavement 
is  composed  ;  on  this  spot,  said  she,  was  Napoleon  crowned 
Emperor  of  the  French  ! — And  there — and  there — pointing  on 
either  side,  to  the  two  thrones  that  terminated  the  rows  of  richly 
carved  stalls,  sat  the  venerable  archbishop  of  Paris,  then  advanced 
to  the  extreme  verge  of  life,  and  his  holiness  Pope  Pius  VII., 
who  came  to  Paris  to  consecrate  the  new  dynasty;  which,  she 
might  have  added,  had  already  been  baptized  in  the  blood  of 
Europe  !  This  imposing  ceremony  took  place  on  the  second  of 
December,  1804.  At  that  door  entered  the  emperor,  escorted 
by  his  enthusiastic  guard,  and  accompanied  by  the  unhappy 
Josephine.  Here  stood  the  Pope,  the  Cardinals,  the  great  eccle- 
siastics, the  grand  officers  of  state,  and  all  the  elite  of  France, 
to  receive  him,  who  came  to  offer  up  the  revolution,  upon  the 
altar  of  his  own  intense  egotism.  "  Almighty  God,"  exclaimed 
the  Pope,  as  at  the  foot  of  the  altar,  he  anointed  with  a  triple 
unction  the  head  and  both  the  hands  of  Napoleon,  "Thou,  wha 
didst  establish  Hazael,  to  he  ruler  over  Syria  ;  and  Jehu,  to  be 
king  of  Israel,  manifesting  thy  will  to  iheaXy  by  thy  prophet, 
5* 


42  MEMORANDA    OF 

Elias  ;  thou  who  didst  also  shed  the  holy  unction  of  kings,  upon- 
the  head  of  Saul  and  of  David,  by  the  hands  of  thy  prophet 
Samuel;  bestow,  by  our  hands,  the  treasures  of  thy  grace  and 
benediction,  upon  thy  servant  Napoleon,  who,  notwithstanding 
our  personal  unvvorthiness,  we  consecrate,  this  day,  emperor 
in  thy  name!"  Ev^n  in  this  scene,  the  conduct  of  the  emperor 
was  perfectly  characteristic.  Before,  all  sovereigns  had  been 
crowned.  He  crowned  himself;  taking  the  diadem  in  his  hands 
and  placing  it  upon  his  head ;  then  placing  another  upon  the 
head  of  Josephine. 

There  are  few  acts  in  the  history  of  the  human  race,  more 
replete  with  overwhelming  interest.  My  whole  frame  trembled 
with  emotion,  as  the  actors  in  it  lived  again  before  me,  and  my 
lieart  was  wrung  with  anguish  at  the  recollection  of  all  that 
single  act  crushed  and  destroyed.  This  amazing  man,  had  found 
a  mighty  nation  torn  with  horrible  passions,  and  on  the  brink  of 
ruin :  and  he  had  tranquillized  them — restored  order  and  pros- 
perity, and  forced  Europe,  three  times  conquered,  to  recognize 
the  revolution  as  a  part  of  its  existing  system.  Victory,  peace, 
and  prosperity,  had  been  assured  to  the  republic  ;  and  still  liberty 
was  safe.  What  a  moment  in  which  to  have  made  himself  the 
impersonation  of  a  glorious  age  !  To  have  consecrated  to  his- 
tory a  second  man,  capable,  like  Washington,  of  forgetting 
himself,  to  secure  to  the  world  a  just  equality,  a  wise  liberty,  a 
liighly  developed  civilization,  a  noble  vsystem  of  human  happiness 
and  greatness.  The  nation,  adds  one  of  their  most  philosophic 
historians,  was  in  the  hands  of  a  great  man,  or  of  a  despot.  It 
depended  on  him,  to  preserve  it  free,  or  to  enslave  it.  He  pre- 
ferred his  own  selfish  ends.  He  loved  himself,  more  than  the 
human  race. 

Full  of  these  sad  thoughts,  we  emerged  from  the  choir,  and 
encountered  in  the  great  area,  a  procession  not  unsuited  to  them. 
From  a  side  chapel  near  to  that  in  which  we  had  a  short  time 
before  been  witnesses  of  what  this  church  calls  the  sacrament  of 
marriage,  there  came  forth  a  funeral  procession.  Here  at  least 
we  are  equal ;  all  alike  nothing.  And  I  stood  reverently  aa 
they  bore  along  their  dead,  respecting  even  the  weaknesses  of  a 


FOREIGN    TRAVEL.  43 

sacred  grief.  There  came  first,  two  officers  with  their  battons; 
then  the  body,  apparently  of  a  man,  bDrne  by  four  others;  then 
a  company  of  twenty  or  thirty  other  men ;  and  behind,  the 
priest  I  had  before  seen,  marshalled  by  the  same  attendants. — 
The  hearse  was  set  down  not  far  from  the  door ;  the  men  formed 
two  rows  facing  each  other,  before  it,  between  which  the  priest 
passed  slowly,  muttering  out  of  the  same  little  book,  the  same 
incoherent  gibberish,  and  in  the  same  perfectly  careless  manner. 
As  he  approached  the  foot  of  the  coffin,  he  took  the  same  little 
whisk  from  the  lad,  at  his  elbow,  and  made  the  same  motions  in 
the  air,  as  if  scattering  about  holy  water;  and  then  retired. 
Each  of  the  attendants  approached,  and  after  all  the  company 
iiad  successively  made  these  signals,  whether  to  heaven,  to 
earth,  to  the  dead,  or  to  the  spiritual  world,  I  know  not, — they 
took  up  the  body,  and  bore  it  from  the  church.  It  is  one  of  the 
most  extraordinary  features  of  the  papal  system  of  worship — 
that  its  ministers  profess  to  exercise  a  power  over  the  destinies 
of  the  soul,  which  death  itself  does  not  weaken.  And  to  make 
the  tolly  consummate,  they  pretend  to  secure  blessings  in  the 
dread  and  unknown  future,  to  one  man's  disembodied  spirit,  by 
idolatrous  worship  of  another  man's  decayed  bones  ! 

In  Paris,  perhaps  throughout  France,  the  burial  of  the  dead, 
is  a  municipal,  rather  than  a  personal  affair.  The  city  provides 
all  the  means  of  sepulture,  and  even  conducts  so  much  of  the 
ceremony  as  is  not  religious.  The  expense  can  be  increased  or 
diminished  at  pleasure;  from  a  plain  box  and  a  cart,  up  to 
churches  hung  in  costly  weeds,  and  mourning  equipages  without 
number.  Your  very  grave  may  be  purchased  for  a  term  of 
years,  or  in  perpetuity  ;  and  may  be  located  in  a  cemetery  more 
or  less  expensive.  Paris  derives  a  considerable  revenue  from 
this  unaccustomed  source. 


44  MKMOaANDA    OT 


CHAPTER   V 


Goodness  of  Heart  of  the  French— St.  Gervai3— Pictures— A  Gem  of  Albert  Durer 
—Relics— Transubstantiation— St.  Eustache— Idolatry  of  ibe  Sacred  Heart- 
Baptism  of  an  Infant— La  Madelaine— Miracle  in  Marble— The  Pantlieon 
Mirabeau— Names  of  the  Slain  in  tlie  Revolution  of  July— St.  Genevieve— Her 
Miracles,  Tomb  and  Adoration— Private  Masses. 


Some  days  after  the  one  on  which  1  first  visited  Notre  Dame, 
I  was  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  Place  de  Greve,  and  came 
rather  accidentally  upon  the  church  of  St.  Gervais ;  whose 
admirable  architecture  is  the  more  striking,  as  you  would  never 
expect  to  find  such  a  work  in  the  midst  of  the  filthy,  narrow, 
and  irregular  streets,  which  surround  it.  The  churches  of  Paris 
are  always  open — always  accessible  to  the  public.  I  stepped 
into  this  out  of  a  shower  of  rain,  and  select  it  almost  at  random, 
as  one  of  the  few,  of  which  it  is  possible  to  make  a  special  men- 
tion. I  have  never  been  in  one,  in  which  there  were  not  persons 
at  worship ;  persons  to  beg;  persons  at  confession;  officials,  and 
priests.  There  sat  at  the  entrance,  amongst  others,  a  man, 
whose  statue  like  stillness,  attracted  my  notice.  "  I  am  blind  ; 
and  the  fatlier  of  a  family;"  was  the  simple  announcement,  in 
his  own  tongue,  written  on  a  placard,  affixed  to  his  person. 
There  was  an  air  of  reserve,  almost  of  dignity,  in  this  ;  coupled 
with  a  certain  calm  submission  to  inevitable  destiny — and  a  sort 
of  taking  for  granted,  that  the  human  heart  was  not  all  stone, 
and  that  the  simple  fact  was  enough.  I  have  observed  this  sort 
of  gracefulness,  very  often,  amongst  the  French  ;  and  its  effect 
is  never  lost  on  their  quick-sighted  and  impulsive  countrym.en 


FOREIGN    TRAVEL.  45 

Indeed  I  have  remarked,  as  one  of  their  most  pleasing  national 
traits,  the  readiness  and  tfie  tenderness,  with  which  the  very 
humblest  of  the  people,  admit  and  contribute  to  the  claims  of 
wretchedness. 

There  was  a  large  and  very  handsome  man,  who  was  attend- 
ant at  the  place,  and  ready  to  do  its  hono\irs.  He  commenced 
with  great  gravity,  and  many  marks  of  reverence,  to  show  us 
the  chapels,  the  altars,  the  paintings, — especially  some  statuary 
which  he  pronounced  to  be  unrivalled  in  Paris,  if  not  under  the 
sun  ;  and  some  exceedingly  curious  painted  glass  in  the  windows, 
of  great  antiquity  and  beauty.  We  were  shown  a  picture  of 
God  the  Father,  and  passed  on  in  silence.  Presently  another. 
Then  one  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  I  said  I  was  a  Protestant,  and 
disapproved  of  such  attempts.  His  whole  manner  was  changed 
at  once  ;  and  putting  aside  his  saints  and  legends,  and  revolting 
representations  of  the  Almighty,  he  took  me  to  the  opposite  side 
of  the  church,  and  exhibited  a  painting  by  Albert  Durer,  which 
was  the  first,  of  this  great  master,  I  then  had  seen.  The  picture 
represented,  in  the  centre,  the  crucifixion  ;  and  in  eight  compare 
ments,  four  on  either  side, — as  many  scenes  immediately  pre- 
ceding and  following  it.  It  had  been  painted  nearly  three  hun- 
dred and  forty  years;  and  yet  it  was  as  fresh,  as  if  brought 
yesterday  from  the  easel.  It  is  a  most  exquisite  relic ;  and  though 
he  showed  us,  afterwards,  a  bone  of  St.  Gervais  the  patron  of 
the  church,  another  of  St.  Laurent  the  patron  of  that  quarter 
of  Paris,  and  a  third  of  St.  Denis  the  patron  of  all  the  clergy  of 
the  city,  all  set  in  gold:  in  my  poor  heretical  estimation,  that 
relic  of  Albert  Durer  was  worth  all  the  bones  of  saints,  be  they 
of  men,  pigs,  or  fowls,  Cand  which  they  are,  I  am  not  compar- 
ative anatomist  enough  to  decide,  after  the  bones  are  set  like 
jewels,)  which  all  the  superstition  of  earth  hath  heaped  together. 
I  was  also  allowed,  as  I  had  before  been  at  Notre  Dame,  as  you 
can  be  any  where  for  a  franc,  to  see  the  rich  and  extensive 
wardrobe  ;  which  most  of  the  churches  possess.  The  possession 
of  relics,  is  not  only  universal,  but  is  considered  indispensable; 
and  amongst  these,  there  is  almost  universally  found,  a  portion 
of  the  true  cross.     This  was  shown  to  me  on  the  present  occasion 


46  MEMORANDA    OF 

— set  in  the  silver  crucifix — in  the  centre  of  which,  in  tlie  midst 
of  a  golden  sun,  the  consecrated  wafer  is  borne  aloft  on  great 
occasions.  Or,  in  other  words,  if  the  priests  tell  true,  here  is  a 
little  circle  about  as  lar<^e  as  a  dollar,  in  the  middle  of  which 
"  the  soul,  body,  blood,  and  divinity  of  Jesus  Christ,"  is  carried, 
and  worshipped  as  God,  under  the  species  of  a  bit  of  bread  ;  in 
every  particle  of  which  lie  exists,  whole  and  entire  !  Think  of 
that ;  a  hundred  millions  of  Gods,  as  there  are  that  many  parti- 
cles of  the  bread,  in  a  space  as  large  as  a  dollar!  And  these  ail 
swallowed  by  a  priest  at  one  mouthful!  And  is  the  world  to  be 
always  convulsed  to  propagate  this  dogma  ?  Is  freedom,  personal 
and  national,  still  to  be  cloven  down  before  the  hierarchy  of  a 
god  of  dough?  Are  our  souls  to  be  cursed,  by  those  who  avouch 
God's  authority  for  all  their  acts,  because  we  are  unable  to  believe 
that  which  contradicts  all  our  senses,  outrages  our  reason,  and 
stultifies  all  science,  and  shocks  us,  as  at  once  contemptible  and 
horrible  ?  Thanks  be  to  God,  the  day  star  has  arisen.  1  write 
these  lines  freely,  on  the  spot  where  kings  have  slaughtered  their 
people,  and  subjects  bathed  their  liands  in  the  blood  of  kings, 
for  being  only  suspected  of  doubting,  what  they  who  hold,  now 
only  whisper  to  each  other,  where  ever  the  light  of  truth  has 
reached. 

Tiie  church  of  St.  Eustache,  which  is  the  parish  church  of  the 
third  arrondissement,  is,  after  Notre  Dame,  the  largest  in  Paris. 
The  houses  which  crowd  it  on  all  sides,  intercept  the  view  of 
its  profuse  and  heterogeneous  exterior  ornaments.  Its  interior 
consists  of  double  aisles  of  immense  height,  whose  richly  deco- 
rated ceiling  of  vaulted  stone,  is  supported  by  so  many  pillars, 
half  Greek,  half  Gothic,  as  to  confuse  and  disturb  the  whole.  It 
possesses  some  beautiful  specimens,  of  that  rich  painted  glass, 
which  makes  the  windows  of  the  ancient  churches  so  ornamental 
— and  gives  such  softness  to  the  light,  as  it  passes  through  it.  I 
walked  leisurely  about  the  long  aisles,  read  the  tariffs  which 
hang  on  the  walls  of  all  the  churches,  in  manuscript,  indicating 
the  rate  at  which  certain  accommodations  might  be  enjoyed ; 
examined  the  programe  of  masses,  fetes,  Sec,  for  the  current 
week,  amongst  which  the  chief  seemed  to  have  reference  to  a 


FOREIGN    TRAVEL.  47 

great  service  and  exhibition  of  relics  of  Lazarus,  Mary,  and 
Martha;  and  after  counting  the  chapels,  which  I  found  to  be 
nineteen,  commenced  a  somewhat  particular  inspection  of  them. 
Commencing  on  the  right  hand,  as  you  enter  the  church,  the 
first,  is  the  Chapelle  du  Calvarie ;  the  second,  the  Chapelle  of 
St.  Cecelia,  in  which  is  a  picture  of  the  saint  playing  on  the 
pianoforte;  the  third,  is  the  Chapelle  of  ihe  angel  Gabriel.  I 
paused,  before  examining  the  fourth,  that  several  persons  who 
were  at  their  devotions  before  it,  might  finish  them  undisturbed. 
It  seemed  the  most  resorted  to,  of  any,  and  on  the  side  of  it,  in 
the  aisle,  was  a  small  chevaux  de  (Vise,  on  which  a  number  of 
little  candles  were  stuck,  one  of  which  was  lighted.  It  was  the 
Chapel  of  the  Sacred  Heart,  the  devotion  rendered  to  which, 
forms  so  consj)icuous  a  part  of  the  idolatry  of  the  Jesuits.  As 
you  stand  before  the  chaptl,  there  hangs  facing  you,  a  small 
and  rather  well  executed  painting  of  a  human  heart,  surrounded 
by  a  crown  of  thorns,  and  surmounted  by  a  cross  reposing  in  a 
flame.  Above,  are  heads  of  angels  gazing  upon  it,  and  below, 
several  figures,  which  are  probably  meant  to  be  celestial  as  they 
have  wings,  profoundly  adoring  it.  On  the  heart  itself,  was  a 
cypher  which  I  could  but  imperfectly  distinguish ;  but  which 
seemed  like  the  four  Hebrew  letters,  which  compose  the  word 
Jehovah.  At  the  bottom  of  the  picture,  were  the  words,  Cor 
Jesu  Sacratissimum  miserere  nobis  :  Most  sacred  heart  of  Jesus 
have  mercy  onus!  Before  this  picture  1  beheld  rational  and 
immortal  beings,  rendering  their  worship. 

Tins  is  enough;  I  sighed,  and  turned  to  quit  the  place.  At 
the  door  I  met  a  small  party  bearing  a  very  young  child.  They 
are  going  to  have  it  baptized  perhaps;  a  ceremony  i  Ijad  long 
desired  lo  witness ;  and  I  turned  back  with  them.  They  were 
soon  shown  into  the  chapel  on  the  left  side  of  the  church,  in  the 
centre  of  which  stood  a  font,  apparently  of  silver,  on  a  pedestal 
about  four  feet  high.  The  priest  entered,  apparelled  nearly  like 
liim  i  had  seen  at  Notre  Dame,  marshalled  by  an  official  dressed 
in  a  military  costume,  and  followed  by  another  in  deep  black,  of 
a  peculiar  cut,  like  a  sort  of  clerical  undress.  Besides  these 
three,  the  nurse  with  the  infant  in  lier  arms,— the  father  of  the 


48  MEMORANDA    OF 

child, — a  girl  about  thirteen,  and  a  boy  of  perhaps  ten,  formed 
the  company  in  the  chapel.  The  priest  took  his  stand  by  the 
font,  and  commenced  whispering  out  of  a  little  book,  as  if  speak* 
ing  to  himself.  The  infant  was  held  in  the  arms,  opposite ;  and 
on  either  side  of  it,  stood  the  little  girl  and  boy  to  act  as  sponsors 
for  the  babe;  the  male  sponsor  was  obliged  to  stand  upon  a  high 
stool,  upon  which  the  father  held  him,  and  thus  fulfilled  his  entire 
part  in  the  scene.  As  the  door  of  the  chapel  still  stood  a-jar,  f 
pointed  to  it,  and  catching  the  eye  of  the  attendant,  made  a 
slight  bow.  He  returned  the  salutation,  and  I  entered  and  took 
my  stand  by  his  side,  Avithin  arm's  reach  of  all  the  party. 

[  will  briefly  describe  what  I  saw.     But  when  the  multitude 
of  the  absurdities  is  considered,  and  it  is  remembered  that  the 
words  of  the  ceremony  were  in  a  language  (Latin)  which  iew 
can  speak,  and  which  was  now  uttered  with  a  foreign  accent ;  I 
shall  be  easily  excused,  if  I  be  found  in  error,  as  to  points  more 
material  than  the  exact  order  of  occurrence,  about  which  indeed 
I  cannot  be  positive.     During  much  of  the  ceremony,  the  priest 
extended  his  right  hand  over  the  child  ;  occasionally  the  little 
sponsors  did  the  same;  the  assistant  gazed  about,  and  at  inter- 
vals, said    amen;    while  the  official  handed  about  tlie  various 
utensils,  cotton,  little  spoons,   &c.  &c.,  used    on  the  occasion. 
The  priest   made    the  sign  of  the  cross,  on  the  forehead  and 
breast  of  the  child,  saying  at  the  same  time,  it  was  "  to  secure 
to  it  eternal  life."     He  breathed  several  times  in  its  face,  saying 
"  receive  the  good  spirit" — with  much  beside  ;  fi)r  I  only  give  a 
few  words  of  what  he  muttered  without  ceasing.     Just  before  or 
just  after  that,  he  went  through  a  process  of  exorcism,   which 
was  directed  against  an  unclean  spirit  supposed  to  reside  in  the 
infant.     He  put  his  own  saliva  on  his  fingers,  and  transferred  it 
into  the  nostrils  and  ears  of  the  little  sleeping  subject ;  using  at 
the  operation  on  the  latter,  the  solenm   Ephp/iratia,  once  pro- 
nounced by  our  Saviour,  with  the  power  of  God;  and   which   I 
shuddered  to  hear  profaned  to  such  mummery.     He  took  a  pinch 
of  salt  from  a  silver  shell,  and  put  it  into  the  child's  mouth.     He 
took  a  little  gold  spoon  full  of  oil  out  of  a  very  small  silver  cabi- 
net, and  touched  the  breast  and  back  of  the  neck  with  it;  the 


FOREIGN   TRAVEL.  49 

attendant  immediately  wiping  it  off,  with  a  bit  of  cotton,  with 
whicji  he  also  carefully  wiped  the  cabinet.  At  this  moment,  I 
think,  he  took  up  a  second  silver  utensil,  very  small,  and  formed 
like  a  shell ;  and  poured  out  a  small  portion  of  water  upon  the 
right  side  of  the  crown  of  the  head.  Two  things,  however, 
distracted  the  fixed  and  painful  attention  with  which  I  had 
regarded  his  proceedings.  The  first  was  the  multitudes  of  caps, 
being  no  less  than  four,  which  were  removed  from  the  head  of 
the  infant,  to  expose  it,  for  the  performance  of  this  part  of  the 
ceremony.  The  second  was,  that  the  priest  in  his  first  attempt, 
missed  the  head  and  poured  the  water  into  the  font ;  at  which 
he  uttered  several  ejaculations  of  surprise,  that  greatly  tried  the 
gravity  of  the  spectators.  A  second  attempt  was  more  success- 
ful. After  which,  he  gave  the  unction  with  chrism,  taken  from 
a  second  compartment  of  the  little  silver  cabinet.  Then  followed 
a  dumb  show,  with  a  candle  which  he  held  so  as  to  appear  as  if 
grasped  by  the  child,  while  he  uttered  a  few  sentences ;  in  the 
midst  of  which,  they  gathered  closer  around,  and  concealed  it 
for  a  moment,  from  my  view.  Towards  the  end  of  the  affair, 
he  took  up  one  end  of  the  collar  which  depended  from  his  neck, 
and  held  it  for  a  moment  over  the  person  of  the  infant,  with  the 
side  that  had  a  cross  on  it  upwards.  He  had  several  times 
before  pressed  the  side  with  the  cross,  on  its  face  and  person ; 
and  once  took  the  collar  off,  reverently  kissed  the  part  that  rest- 
ed on  the  back  of  his  neck,  turned  it  inside  out  and  put  it  on 
again.  And  this  is  Baptism?  This  is  that  simple,  significant, 
divine  right,  wherein  by  the  pouring  of  water  on  the  person, 
we  signify  the  outpouring  of  the  Eternal  Spirit,  for  the  cleansing 
of  the  soul  of  man  :  in  which  we  manifest  our  wish  to  perform, 
on  our  part,  the  conditions,  and  to  secure  the  fulfilment  on  the 
part  of  God,  of  the  sacred  promises,  of  that  covenant  of  which 
it  is  so  plain  a  seal  ?  No  :  it  is  a  gross  and  degrading  mummery 
—compounded  of  impiety,  superstition,  and  folly ;  no  more  like 
Christian  baptism,  than  the  Pope  of  Rome  is  like  that  blessed 
Lord,  in  whose  name  and  stead  he  claims  to  rule  ;  than  the  apos- 
tacy  in  the  midst  of  which  he  sits  as  God,  is  like  that  universal 
Vol.  II.— G 


50  MEMORANDA    OF 

church  of  the  redeemed  in  earth  and  heaven,  of  which  Christ 
Jesus  is  the  only  and  the  adorable  head! 

Amongst  the  churches  of  Paris,  however,  incomparably  the 
most  magnificent  are  the  Madeleine,  and  the  Pantheon;  if, 
indeed,  the  latter  should  be  called  a  church.  They  are  neither 
as  yet,  completely  finished,  although  the  first  stone  of  both  of 
ihem  was  laid  in  ihe  year  1764,  by  Louis  XV. — and  with  some 
considerable  intermissions,  they  have  been  wrought  on  ever 
since. 

The  Madeleine,  is  situated  on  the  outside  of  the  Boulevart  of 
the  same  name,  immediately  in  front  of  the  Rue  Royale — down 
which  it  looks,  to  the  place  de  la  Concorde,  and  across  the  Seine, 
to  the  Palace  of  the  Chamber  of  Deputies.  Originally  designed 
for  a  simple  parish  church,  for  a  village  which  is  now  absorbed 
m  the  oily;  Buonaparte  changed  its  destination,  and  in  1808 
pulled  down  most  of  what  had  been  done  in  the  preceding  forty 
years,  and  projected  the  present  exquisite  structure,  as  a  temple 
TO  GLORY.  La  Gloire,  is  to  a  true  Frenchman,  meat,  drink,  and 
raiment.  And  he  who  above  all  men,  knew  the  depth  and 
intensity  of  this  national  enthusiasm,  knew  Ihe  best  how  to 
indulge,  as  well  as  how  to  direct  it.  An  inscription  on  the  lofty 
front  of  the  portico  shows  that  this  destination  has  also  been 
changed  ;  and  that  the  place  "  is  under  the  invocation  of  Saint 
Mary  Magdalene." — And  as  one  mounts  the  double  ascent  of 
lofty  steps,  and  enjoys  the  luxury  of  a  promenade  on  the  high 
terraces  entirely  around  the  church  ;  guarded  by  the  lofty,  rich, 
prolonged,  and  perfect  Corinthian  colonades;  he  is  ready  to  con- 
fess that,  that  gentle  and  Irail  penitent  has  had  no  where  else  a 
shrine  so  beautiful,  nor  votaries  touched  with  a  more  devout 
sympathy.  A  most  extraordinary  miracle  has  occurred  in  this 
house.  On  one  of  the  beautiful  slabs  of  coloured  marble,  polished 
till  they  are  as  smooth  as  the  forehead  of  a  child,  or  the  inside 
of -a  marine  shell,  which  decorate  the  lower  parts  of  the  interior 
walls  ;  was  suddenly  found  exhibited  in  the  stone  ilself,  a  perfect 
picture  of  a  bishop,  in  full  attire,  and  of  the  size  of  nature  !  It 
is  «hown  with  great  reverence  to  all  visiters  ;  and  with  a  little 
aid  from  the  imagination,  a  sort  of  resemblance  can  certainly  be 


FOREIGN    TRAVEL.  51 

traced.  F  was  critical ;  but  the  cruide,  and  the  bystanders  pro- 
nounced it  perfect.  The  omen  is  evil  then,  said  I ;  for  the  staff 
in  his  hand  is  held  up  like  a  baton  of  command,  and  is  four 
times  too  thick.  It  means  that  you  are  to  be  again  subjected 
to  the  insupportable  tyranny  of  the  priests.  The  suggestion 
seemed  no  way  beneficial  to  the  miracle. 

The  Pantheon  is  at  the  opposite  quarter  of  the  city  from  the 
Madelaine.  It  is  on  the  left  side  of  the  river,  in  the  place  St. 
Genevieve,  on  the  street  and  hill  St.  Jaques.  Behind  it  is  the 
College  of  Henry  IV. ;  below  it,  that  of  Louis  XIV.;  the  great 
promoters  of  the  arts  in  France.  This  like  the  church  last 
mentioned,  has  been  subjected  to  several  changes  of  destination  ; 
but  since  the  revolution  of  July,  has  been  restored  to  the  august 
purpose  of  commemorating  the  benefactors  of  France.  On  the 
frieze  of  the  gigantic  portico,  are  these  striking  ^words :  Jlux 
grands  hommes — la  patrie  reconnaissante : — A  grateful  country 
— to  great  men  !  It  was  the  National  Assembly  that  conceived 
the  idea,  and  by  a  decree  of  1791,  consecrated  the  magnificent 
church,  as  the  sepulchre  of  those  who  shed  lustre  upon  their 
country.  The  same  decree  directed  this  honour  to  be  conferred 
for  the  first  time,  on  the  remains  of  Mirabeau,  then  recently 
dead ;  and  the  Assembly  itself  ministered  at  his  obsequies. — 
Great,  corrupt,  heroic  genius!  Necessary  to  mankind,  indis- 
pensable to  France,  dear  to  liberty  !  Successive  generations  as 
they  cast  their  shadows  across  these  long  pavements,  and  tread 
amidst  these  vast  and  numberless  columns,  will  kindle  with 
deeper  emotion,  when  they  remember  it  is  thy  monument !  And 
as  they  recall  the  thousand  dangers,  which  nothing  but  thy 
dauntless  courage  warded  off;  the  difficulties  which  thy  wisdom 
surmounted;  the  triumphs  which  thy  eloquence  achieved,  for 
young  freedom  ;  they  will  weep,  as  they  may  not  paliate,  nor 
hide  thy  crimes ! 

As  you  enter  this  splendid  edifice,  which  has  the  figure  of  a 
Greek  cross,  you  find  yourself  in  the  midst  of  an  immense  area, 
of  the  same  shape ;  on  all  sides  of  which  are  rows  of  enormous 
pillars  ;  and  surmounting  the  whole,  a  dome  of  great  proportions, 
mounting  up  to  a  height,  far  above  any  other  in  the  city.     I 


52  MEMORANDA    OF 

have,  on  a  former  occasion,  mentioned  the  wide  extent  and 
grandeur  of  the  Panorama,  presented  from  this  pinnacle.  In 
the  great  area  beneath,  is  one  of  tiiose  innumerable  objects, 
which,  in  this  capital,  seem  to  be  so  skilfully  arranged  to  breed 
in  the  people,  ihe  most  profound  passions  of  every  kind.  At  the 
four  points,  when  the  lines  of  the  great  cross,  which  composes 
the  building,  intersect  each  other,  and  which  constitute  the 
salient  points  of  the  arch  of  the  dome  ;  are  large  slabs  of  black 
marble,  on  which  are  written  long  rows  of  names,  in  letters  of 
gold.  At  the  top  of  each  tablet  is  this  inscription  in  French : 
''  Karnes  of  the  citizens  who  died  in  defence  of  the  laws  and  of 
liberty y  on  the  xxvii.,  xxviii.,  and  xxix.  of  July,  1830."  I  counted 
the  names — there  were  two  hundred  and  eighty-seven.  Are 
thrones  so  easily  subverted  ? — I  read  over  the  places  of  their 
birth  ;  most  of  them  were  from  the  immediate  neighbourhood  of 
Paris;  the  whole  from  continental  Europe.  I  looked  at  the 
ages.  There  was  a  lad  of  fifteen.  I  would  make  a  pilgrimage 
to  embrace  his  mother's  knees.  It  was  a  boy  of  the  Poly  tech- 
nique school,  who  fell  leading  a  desperate  assault  upon  the 
Louvre.  As  soon  as  his  hardy  followers  saw  that  he  must  die, 
they  bore  him  with  loud  shouts  of  triumph  across  the  Place 
Carousal,  into  the  palace  of  the  Thuileries,  into  the  great  hall  of 
state,  and  placed  him  upon  the  throne  from  which  his  young 
hand  was  so  rudely  tearing  its  occupant!  He  breathed  his  last 
upon  the  ihrone  of  Charlemagne  ! — A  few  names  below  his, 
was  that  of  a  man  born  in  Holland :  and  his  age  given  at  seven- 
ty-four. So  old,  and  a  stranger  ?  Then  the  fire  of  freedom, 
burns  far,  and  burns  long.  May  it  catch  from  heart  to  heart, 
and  from  land  to  land,  till  every  chain  melts,  and  every  throne 
dissolves  before  it ! 

In  the  immediate  neighbourhood  of  the  Pantheon,  is  an  ex- 
tremely curious  and  rather  mean  looking  old  church,  called  St. 
Etienne  du  Mont.  But  as  the  nation  seems  resolved  that  the 
Pantheon  shall  be  called  St.  Genevieve,  and  it  would  be  out  of 
the  question  that  the  patroness  of  the  city  should  have  no  church 
devoted  specifically  to  her  worship  ;  this  queer  looking  affair,  is 
now  the  veritable  church  of  that  respectable  shepherdess.    In 


FOREIGN    TRAVEL.  53 

the  state  of  feeling  and  bodily  lassitude,  produced  on  most  per- 
sons, by  the  inspection  of  the  Pantheon, — climbing  to  its  top  and 
penetrating  amongst  its  vaults, — there  is  little  inchnation  to  visit 
St.  Genevieve,  and  few  do  it ; — this  perhaps  accounts  for  the 
more  gross  forms  of  superstition,  exhibited  openly  there.  It 
is  well  worth  looking  at,  however,  on  its  own  account.  The 
specimen  of  fine  stained  glass  in  its  windows  is  the  most  perfect 
I  have  seen  in  Paris,  and  far  the  most  abundant.  The  interior 
of  the  church  is  light,  rich  and  rather  elegant— though  in  all 
respects  peculiar.  Some  of  the  paintings  are  very  curious. — 
Amongst  others  I  observed  some  commemorating  notable  mira- 
cles by  St.  Genevieve  :  namely,  the  healing  of  Louis  XIII. — the 
stopping  of  a  famine — the  dispersion  of  the  army  of  Attila — 
and  the  cessation  of  a  storm  !  Do  people  believe  such  things  ? 
Why  not?  In  the  same  collection,  is  a  picture  of  the  crucifixion, 
which  represents  Louis  XIII.  and  his  minister  Louvais,  at  the 
cross !  Believe  them  ?  Why  they  are  tlie  most  credible  part  of 
what  I  saw  at  this  church. 

la  passing  up  the  aisles  inspecting  what  was  to  be  seen — with- 
out the  wearisome  aid  of  the  usual  attendants — I  came  suddenly 
upon  two  tablets  of  stone  set  in  the  wall,  and  thickly  covered  with 
a  long  inscription.  I  was  so  much  astonished  at  its  purport,  that 
I  transcribed  the  first  tablet.  "  The  tomb  which  is  now  used" 
said  the  inscription  "  is  the  same  in  which  the  corpse  of  Saint 
**  Genevieve  was  deposited  on  the  13th  of  January  511 :  and  in 
"  which  it  rested  for  120  years.  Afterwards,  through  a  search 
"  instituted  by  Saint  Eloi,  we  received  the  remains  and  ashes  of 
"  the  patroness  of  Paris.  This  stone,  which  inclosed  them,  was 
"  always  the  object  of  the  veneration  of  the  faithful.  Despoiled 
"  of  the  ornaments  with  which  it  had  been  decorated  by  the  pie- 
"  ty  of  the  Cardinal  de  la  Rouchfoucald,  but  happily  preserved 
"  in  the  subterranean  church  of  the  abbey  ;  here  we  behold  it, 
"  after  our  convulsions,  the  only  monument  on  earth  of  a  saint 
"  who  twice  saved  the  capital ;  and  who,  in  heaven,  has  not 
*'  ceased  to  be  propitious."  There  is  just  as  much  more,  con- 
sisting chiefly  of  details,  to  verily  the  preceding  statement.  It 
is  mere  waste  of  words  to  say  that  this  is  all  the  rankest  folly 
.  6* 


54  MEMORANDA    OF 

and  the  grossest  impiety  and  the  foulest  imposition.  But  if  you 
will  look  behind  the  pillar,  you  will  see  in  a  recess  the  tomb  it- 
self; surrounded  by  an  iron  railing,  the  spikes  of  which  are  so 
adjusted  as  to  receive  a  candle  upon  each  of  the  numerous  points. 
A  young  female  sat  in  a  sort  of  stall,  not  far  off,  composedly  at 
work ;  and  driving  a  traffic  in  various  small  articles,  such  as 
medals,— images,— beads,— but  above  all,  little  dirty  candles, 
such  as  were  called  rat  tails,  when  in  my  youth,  we  denounced 
them  at  boarding  school.  While  I  stood  near,  five  females,  and 
two  men,  came  into  the  recess — and  reverently  bowing  their 
bodies,  seemed  to  worship  the  tomb.  What  they  actually  did 
worship,  is  best  known  to  themselves.  The  men  each  purcha- 
sed a  candle  of  the  girl,  lit  it,  and  stuck  it  on  a  point  of 
the  railing  round  the  tomb.  There  were  other  candles,  that  had 
been  placed  by  previous  devotees :  and  the  whole  railing  was 
filthy  from  constant  use. 

On  the'opposite  side  of  the  church  hung,  in  a  frame,  a  schedule 
of  private  masses.  There  were  seven  separate  foundations,  of 
which  the  particulars  were  given.  I  made  a  memorandum  of  two. 
1.  "A  Mass  was  established  in  1826,  by  Monsieur  le  due  de 
Cambaceres  to  be  celebrated  yearly  on  the  15th  day  of  January  ; 
for  the  repose  of  his  soul ;  for  which  he  created  an  annual  rent 
of  three  hundred  and  twenty-five  francs.*'  2.  ''  Monsieur  Mon- 
grud  formerly  professor  of  philosophy,  created  in  the  year  1830 
a  temporary  foundation,  for  five  hundred  masses,  for  the  repose  of 
his  soul;  which  will  be  celebrated  every  Monday  at  10  o'clock, 
until  the  15th  of  June,  1839."  The  sum  given,  is  left  blank. — 
Now  suppose  this  be  all  fair  and  true  :  and  the  matter  precisely 
as  these  gentlemen  supposed  when  they  established  these  masses 
— and  as  their  church  taught  them  it  was.  How  then  ?  I  say 
nothing  of  excluding  a  good  man  from  happiness  after  death, 
and  consigning  him  from  1830  till  1839,  to  the  horrors  of  Purga- 
tory. I  say  nothing,  of  its  requiring  a  perpetual  mass  to  get  the 
duke  out,  and  keep  him  out.  I  say  not  a  word  about  the  blas- 
phemy of  pretending  to  save  bad  men  after  death.  Look  at  it  in 
this  light.  This  church  teaches  that  the  sacrifice  of  the  mass,  is 
not  only  a  propitiary  sacrifice  for  the  living  and  the  dead — but 


FOREIGN    TRAVEL.  55 

that  it  is  the  very  identical  sacrifice  of  Calvary.  I  do  not  argue 
whether  it  is  so  or  not ;  let  us  say  it  is.  Then  Christ  is  crucified, 
every  Monday  morninsr,  at  ten  o'clock,  at  St.  Genevieve,  and 
will  be  for  three  years  to  come,  making  in  all  five  hundred  repe- 
titions of  the  awful  scene  of  Calvary — for  the  sake  of  one  poor 
sinner, — who  nevertheless,  might  be  all  the  time  in  heaven ! 
And  the  priest  perpetrates  the  tremendous  act,  upon  a  nice  cal- 
culation of  francs  and  centimes  ;  so  nice,  that  he  tells  you  before- 
hand the  day,  on  which  he  will  no  longer  sacrifice  his  Saviour  on 
this  account ; — as  the  "pieces  of  silver"  will  be  then  fully  earned  ? 
But  as  M  le  Due's  money  is  a  perpetual  grant, — these  priests  will 
undertake  that  the  Lord  of  glory  shall  be  offered  up,  yearly  for- 
ever, for  him  ?  I  do  not  believe  there  are  on  earth  assassins  who 
would  sacrifice  their  enemies,  or  even  dumb  creatures,  upon  the 
terms  and  totheir  extent,  and  for  the  reasons  on  which  the  priests, 
if  they  believe  what  they  say  they  do,  must  consider  themselves, 
sacrificing  him  whom  they  call  Saviour ! — How  tremendous  are 
those  words,  "  they  have  crucified  to  themselves  the  Son  of  God 
afresh  ;— and  put  him  to  an  open  shame?" 


56  MEMORANDA  OJ* 


CHAPTER   VI 


Religious  State  of  France,  past  and  present— Early  Conversion  of  the  Kingdom  to 
Chrislianily,  and  Apostacy  to  Romanism— Influence  of  the  latter  on  France- 
Liberties  of  the  Gallican  Church— The  Pragmatic  Sanction— The  first  Concordat 
-General  Councils— Former  State  of  the  Clergy— Their  Influence  upon  the 
Revolution  of  1789— Their  Conduct  during  its  Progress— Era  of  Popular  Infidelity 
and  Disorder— TheConcordat  of  1802— Present  State  of  the  Papal  Church  in  France 
—Open  and  General  Contempt  of  Religion— Superstition— Bigotry. 


The  Martyrologies  give  the  names  of  Christian  Bishops  in 
France,  who  are  said  to  have  been  ordained  by  St.  Peter  himself. 
Such  are  Xystus,  Fronstand,  Julianus,  the  first  Bishops  of 
Rhemes,  Perigort,  and  Metz.  The  same  is  affirmed,  on  more 
credible  authority,  of  the  early  pastors  of  Aries  and  Vienne  ;  for 
in  the  time  of  Leo  I.,  a  controversy  for  rank,  was  decided  in 
favour  of  the  former,  on  the  ground  that  Trophlmus  its  first 
bishop,  had  been  set  over  that  charge  by  the  Apostle  Peter.— 
The  same  Martyrologies  assert,  and  therein  are  countenanced 
by  much  weightier  authority  than  their  own,  in  the  assertions  of 
Epiphanius  and  Theodoret ;  that  it  was  into  France,  and  not  into 
Asia  Minor,  that  Paul  sent  Crescens,  of  whose  mission  bespeaks 
in  his  epistle  to  Timothy ;  and  that  he  was  the  first  bishop  of 
Vienne  on  the  Rhone. 

It  is  certain  that  some  tribes  of  the  Gauls  received  Christian- 
ity at  a  very  early  period.  And  it  is  also  certain,  that  in  most 
parts  it  was  rooted  out  by  the  Francs,  on  their  establishing 
themselves  in  the  country.  These  fierce  barbarians  were  them- 
selves brought  to  a  nominal  reception  of  it,  during  the  reign,  and 


FOREIGN    TRAVEL.  57 

chieriy  by  the  influence  of  Clovis,  their  fifth  king,  towards  the 
end  of  the  fifth  century. 

France  was  amonor  the  earliest  of  the  states  of  Europe  to 
embrace  the  errors  of  the  Papal  apostacy.  So  far  as  the  mere 
dogmas  of  that  faith  are  concerned,  no  people  embraced  them 
witii  more  avidity  and  completeness:  none  shed  more  blood  to 
uphold  them :  and  none  have  suffered  greater  or  more  continued 
evils  from  them.  The  kings  of  France  embarked  in  every  species 
of  crusade,  at  the  bidding  of  the  Pope;  so  that  not  only  the 
plains  of  Asia  and  the  sands  of  Africa,  and  the  vallies  of  every 
neighbouring  kingdom  in  Europe,  have  been  dyed  red  through 
the  religious  wars  in  which  France  took  a  leading  part;  but 
fi'om  the  year  1179,  when  the  third  Council  of  Laieran  com- 
manded the  Vaudois  to  be  exterminated,  onward  through  a 
period  of  more  than  six  hundred  years — the  knife  of  the  execu- 
tioner blessed  by  the  clergy,  and  drawn  by  the  king's  command, 
was  hardly  ever  dry.  The  massacres,  from  that  of  Merindol 
to  that  of  St.  Bartholomew;  the  persecutions;  the  civil  wars, 
which  have  afflicted  France  alone,  through  the  procurement  of 
the  Church  of  Rome,  have  caused  a  degree  of  crime  and  misery, 
incomparably  outweighing  all  the  spiritual  benefits  which  that 
church  has  bestowed  upon  the  whole  world.  And  if  the  eftects 
of  that  dark  superstition  be  judged  of  by  the  whole  current  of 
its  history  in  this  realm,  for  the  last  thirteen  centuries ;  we  see 
only  abundant  reason  to  confirm  w  hat  every  thing  elsewhere 
establishes — namely,  that  the  Papal  church  has  been  one  of  the 
greatest  curses  that  ever  afflicted  the  earth. 

This  is  the  more  to  be  pondered,  as  it  occurred  under  circum- 
stances the  most  favourable  to  that  faith  ;  for  France  has  never 
followed  out  the  ultra-montane  doctrines  of  the  church,  nor 
received  the  theories  of  the  Italian  party,  on  the  subject  of  the 
temporal  power  and  the  spiritual  supremacy?  of  the  Pope.  It 
was  the  mere  faith  of  Rome  in  its  best  aspect,  which  wrought  all 
the  religious  ruin,  by  the  hands  of  France.  Since  the  days  of 
the  great  John  Gerson,  who  made  so  distinguished  a  figure  at 
the  Council  of  Constance,  it  has  been  the  settled  faith  of  the 
French  Catholic  church,  that  the  Pope  was  subordinate  to  a 


58  MEMORANDA    OF 

General  Council.  And  the  essence  of  the  liberties  of  the  Galil- 
ean church  consists  in  two  great  principles,  which  if  rightly 
applied,  curtail  the  most  fearful  powers  of  the  Pope.  They  are, 
1,  that  the  power  given  by  Jesus  Christ  to  his  church,  is  purely 
spiritual,  and  has  no  relation  directly  or  indirectly  to  temporal 
things :  and  2,  that  the  plenitude  of  power,  which  the  Pope 
has,  as  head  of  the  church,  should  be  exercised  conformably  to 
the  canons  received  by  the  whole  church  :  and  that  he  is  himself 
subject  to  the  judgment  of  a  Universal  Council,  in  the  cases 
designated  by  that  of  Constance.  Such  are  the  words  of  the 
Abbe  Fleury  in  his  Institution  Au  Droit  Ecclesiastigue.  And  he 
proceeds  to  show  that  the  clergy  of  France,  assembled  at  Paris 
in  1682,  solemnl}'  declared  these  maxims  to  be  the  ancient 
doctrine  of  the  Galilean  church  :  and  then  deduces  from  them 
those  natural  and  weighty  conclusions  which  have  for  so  long  a 
period  kept  this  church  distinct  from,  though  subordinate  to,  and 
replete  with  the  worst  heresies  of  that  of  Rome. 

The  rights  secured  to  the  king  and  clergy  of  France  have 
been  generally  held  precious  by  them.  They  were  secured  for 
a  long  time,  by  those  ordinances  of  the  emperors  and  of  St. 
Louis,  which  had  received  the  appellation  of  the  Pragmatique 
Sanction.  This  venerable  name  was  also  given  to  an  Ordinance 
of  the  Galilean  church,  made  by  an  Assembly  of  its  clergy  at 
Bourges  in  143S,  in  the  presence  of  Charles  VII. ;  by  which  it 
adhered  to  the  Council  of  Basle,  then  in  session.  The  Council 
and  the  Pragmatique  Sanction,  were  equally  odious  at  Rome  : 
and  for  a  long  period  bred  furious  contentions  between  the  two 
churches,  and  successive  kings  and  popes.  In  the  year  1516, 
the  cunning  and  unscrupulous  Leo  X.,  terminated  the  dispute 
by  the  famous  Concordat  between  himself  and  Francis  I. : 
approved  by  the  V.  Lateran  Council,  then  in  session.  Although 
this  Concordat  stripped  the  king  and  church  of  France  of  many 
of  their  rights  ;  it  is  manifest,  from  the  maxims  asserted  as 
already  seen,  a  hundred  and  seven  years  afterwards,  that  they 
had  so  far  evaded  its  provisions  as  to  preserve  the  most  essential, 
as  relates  to  their  temporal  affairs.  The  reader  will  receive  a 
full  impressioii  of  this  important  fact,  when  he  remembers  that 


FOREIGN    TRAVEL.  59 

the  Jesuits  were  always  odious,  and  early  expelled  from  the 
kingdom  ;  that  the  Inquisition  was  never  fully  established,  and 
was  repeatedly  forbidden  ;  that  several  important  councils  are 
recognised  as  general  by  France,  (as  Constance  and  Basle)  which 
are  abhorred  by  Rome  ;  and  others,  as  Trent,  which  are  taken 
by  Rome,  as  having  been  under  the  divine  and  unerring  guidance 
of  the  Holy  Spirit,  are  rejected  entirely,  or  received  only  in  part 
in  France.  So  great  is  this  discord,  that  at  Rome  it  is  of  Faith 
to  believe  that  there  are  but  fifteen  General  Councils ;  whereas, 
in  France,  it  is  of  faith  equally,  that  there  have  been  twenty  ! — 
A  sad  discrepancy  truly,  when  the  question  is  no  less  than  the 
unerring  and  irrevocable  decision  of  the  universal  church,  as  to 
what  is,  or  is  not  the  voice  of  God  ! 

Three  councils,  admitted  by  both  parties  to  be  universal,  have 
been  held  in  France  :  two  of  them  at  Lyons,  and  the  third  at 
V'ienne.  And  Avignon  in  the  southern  part  of  the  kingdom  was 
for  above  seventy  years  the  residence  of  the  accredited  popes  of 
Rome  ;  not  to  mention  the  long  period  of  schism,  during  which 
there  were  two,  and  some  times  three  popes — one  of  whom 
usually  resided  there. 

The  riches,  power,  influence,  and  numbers  to  which  the  clergy 
of  France  attained,  and  which  ihey  long  possessed,  seem  now 
hardly  credible.  I  find  in  HeyleyLn's  Cosmography,  a  summary 
taken  from  Bodin,  Alemont,  Sir  Edwin  Landys,  and  others; 
exhibiting  their  condition  towards  the  end  of  the  16th  century. 
There  were  then  13  Archbishops,  104  Bishops,  1450  Abbies, 
540  Arch  Priories,  12,320  Priories,  567  Nunneries,  700  Convents 
of  Friars,  259  Commondaries  of  Malta — a  number,  not  known, 
of  Jesuit  Colleges.  The  parish  priests  alone  amounted  to 
130,000,  taking  in  deacons,  sub-deacons,  and  all  inferior  orders; 
which  was  30,000  greater  than  had  been  reckoned  in  the  days 
of  Louis  XL,  somewhat  more  than  a  century  before.  The 
parish  churches  for  so  great  a  multitude  to  o3iciate  in,  were 
only  27,400,  exclusive  of  oratories  and  chapels  of  ease,  whose 
number  is  not  given ;  proving  plainly  enough,  that  their  ministry 
never  Was  one  to  proclaim  and  enlbrce  truth,  but  to  ofler  sacri- 
fice.   And  inasmuch  as  there  is  neither  priest  nor  sacrifice  in  the 


60  MEMORANDA    OF 

Christian  system,  except  the  Great  High  Priest,  and  the  one  all 
sufficient  sacrifice  oi"  himself;  this  contrary  system,  whatever 
else  it  may  be,  cannot  be  Christianity.  I  shouid  not  omit  to  say 
that  at  the  period  in  question,  the  revenues  of  the  French  clergy, 
drawn  from  various  sources  and  in  innumerable  modes,  amount- 
ed to  seven  parts  out  of  twelve  of  the  entire  weahh  of  the 
nation.  A  condition  resembling  that  of  the  apostles  about  as 
nearly,  as  their  system  of  ceremonies  and  sacrifices  did  the 
simple  preaching  of  the  gospel. 

The  doctrines  of  the  French  church,  as  of  all  the  branches  of 
that  of  Rome,  are  founded  on  the  Creed  of  Pius  IV.,  and  elab- 
orated in  the  Catechism  of  the  Council  of  Trent.  But  those 
who  will  pursue  the  investigation  through  their  dogmatic  and 
controversial,  but  especially  their  casuistical  writers,  will  be 
surprised  to  find  that  to  the  really  initiated,  there  are  no  settled 
points  whatever ;  there  is  nothing  which  intention  may  not 
vitiate ;  which  opposing  probabilities  may  not  unsettle ;  which 
X\\e  plenitude  of  power  rnay  not  wave.  So  that  it  is  no  cause  of 
marvel,  that  almost  universal  infidelity  has  in  all  ages  character- 
ized a  clergy,  who  upon  their  own  theories,  could  not  possibly 
be  certain  of  any  thing  whatever;  and  who  found  themselves 
able  to  create  a  source  of  gain,  in  every  source  of  uncertainty. 
A  ^QVf  years  ago  Blanco  White  who  had  been  many  years  a 
Spanish  Priest,  published  a  bonk  on  the  state  of  the  clergy  in 
Spain.  Rather  more  than  a  century  before,  Antonio  Gavin, 
under  circumstances  precisely  similar,  published  a  like  work,  on 
the  same  country.  They  both  declare  that  they  had  scarcely 
known  a  priest  who  was  not  an  atheist— and  never  one  whose 
morals  were  not  corrupt.  In  the  interval,  between  these  two 
productions,  Dr.  Priestly  who  spent  some  time  in  Paris,  bore 
witness  to  the  universal  infidelity  of  the  French  ecclesiastics. — 
And  the  progress  of  the  Revolution  of  1789,  demonstrated  too 
fatally  these  sad  truths. 

This  story  is  little  attended  to.  It  is  known  that  a  whole 
people,  emerging  from  a  thousand  years  of  superstition,  plunged 
into  the  opposite  abyss  of  horrible  atheism ;  but  it  is  not  remem- 
bered that  this  was  the  natural  issue  of  such  a  slate ;  and  that 


FOREIGN    TRAVEL.  61 

'f  hey  who  enforced  the  previous  condition,  were  thereby  privy  to 
the  final  catastrophe.  Between  the  Bible  and  Atheism,  the  dis- 
tance is  interminable.  But  between  the  Breviary  and  Atheism, 
to  prefer  the  former,  is  evidence  only  that  religion  is  a  natural 
want  of  the  soul. 

Nor  does  the  world  remember  how  direct  was  the  participation 
of  the  high  clergy,  in  every  act  that  retarded  the  revolution, 
and  irritated  an  already  excited  and  newly  liberated  people.  It 
is  forgotten  that  the  ecclesiastics  themselves,  on  the  one  hand 
renounced  their  order  and  concurred  in  the  most  dreadful 
excesses;  and  on  the  other,  after  exciting  civil  war  in  France, 
joined  the  emigration  in  stirring  up  all  Europe  against  her. — 
Then  it  was  that  she  proclaimed  herself  infidel.  First  taught 
that  which  is  simply  incapable  of  belief;  then  receiving  at  the 
hands  of  tiiose  who  said  they  were  God's  exclusive  ministers, 
the  perpetual  assurance,  that  this  was  not  only  true,  but  exclu- 
sively true  ;  and  then  in  the  midst  of  their  first  enjoyment  of 
long  lost  freedom,  beholding  these  same  men  presenting  them- 
selves between  God  and  liberty,  as  if  the  two  were  separated 
by  an  impassable  gulf ;  hearing  them  from  all  the  altars  of  France 
attempting  to  excite  schism,  and  thus  kindle  a  religious  war  tor 
the  hundredth  time,  that  by  means  of  the  blood  shed  in  it  they 
might  extinguish  all  the  blessings  which  the  revolution  had  till 
then  brought  forth  ;  presented  with  this  naked  alternative,  the 
god  of  the  Papacy — or  the  liberty  of  regenerated  France  ;  the 
religion  of  Romanism,  or  the  freedom  organized  by  the  finished 
labours  of  the  National  Assembly,  and  inaugurated  by  the 
sublime  ceremonies  of  their  federation,  in  the  presence  of  the 
king,  and  the  nation  itself  represented  by  five  hundred  thousand 
men,  in  the  Camp  de  Mars : — I  marvel  not  at  the  choice  they 
made.  The  Roman  religion  made  the  clergy  what  they  were  ; 
and  they  exerted  a  vast  and  most  malignant  influence,  in  making 
France  what  she  became. 

Nor  should  it  ever  be  forgotten  that  this  conduct  of  the  clergy 

had  for  its  immediate  cause,  the  most  sordid  motives.     In  the 

early  contests  between  the  three  orders  which  composed  the 

States  General  of  the  Kingdom,  the  immense  majority  of  the 

Vol.  II.— 7 


62  MEMORANDA    OF 

inferior  clergy  had  adhered  to  the  representatives  of  the  Tliird 
Estate.  By  that  movement,  the  Third  Estate  became  the 
National  Estate ;  the  Estates  General  were  transferred  at  once 
into  an  Assembly  of  the  nation,  in  which  the  overwhelming 
power  was  vested  in  the  hands  of  the  representatives  of  the 
people,  though  abhorrent  perhaps  to  the  high  ecclesiastics.  The 
initiative  step  of  the  revolution  was  completed,  through  the 
concurring  voice  of  the  representatives  of  the  clergy,  though 
dreaded  and  watched  by  the  high  ecclesiastics.  On  the  night 
of  the  4th  of  August,  1789,  the  next  stride  v/as  taken  ;  and  the 
representatives  of  the  ecclesiastical  body,  partaking  of  the  gen- 
eral enthusiasm,  fully  concurred.  At  one  blow  the  abuses  of 
centuries  were  annihilated.  The  provinces  gave  up  their 
exclusive  privileges,  Dauphine  setting  the  example,  and  the 
others  following.  Cities  renounced  their  peculiar  customs  and 
rights.  Franchises  and  corporations  were  broken  up,  at  the 
suggestion  of  those  who  profited  most  by  retaining  them. — 
Personal  privileges  followed  ;  and  the  clergy  and  the  nobles 
rivalled  each  other  in  making  sacrifices,  for  the  general  good  of 
France.  Tithes  were  transmuted  into  a  pecuniary  tax  on  the 
motion  of  the  Due  du  Chatelet;  and  interchanging  a  lofty 
courtesy,  the  Bishop  of  Chartres  moved  the  abolition  of  the 
exclusive  right  of  the  chase.  When  this  sitting  closed,  every 
Frenchman  was  equal  in  the  eyes  of  the  law :  law  itself  was 
equal  and  the  same,  throughout  France ;  and  Society  had  be- 
come its  own  master.  In  these  great  and  beneficent  changes, 
the  clergy  moved  with  the  nation,  if  its  representatives  spoke  its 
voice.  Yet  at  the  same  moment  the  body  of  the  clergy  plotted 
against  the  consolidation  of  the  new  liberties  of  the  nation. 

By-and-by  came  the  decision,  that  the  ecclesiastical  estates 
belonged  to  France  and  not  to  the  clergy;  that  the  nation  to 
avoid  a  horrible  bankruptcy  might  reclaim  a  portion  of  those 
estates — making  good  by  annual  grants  any  deficit  that  might 
arise  in  the  revenues  of  the  clergy.  In  short,  that  the  ministers 
of  a  national  religion  should  be  considered  Officers  of  State,  in 
so  far  as  to  be  paid  by  the  Government  directly ;  and  the  enor- 
mous wealth  thus  left  free  be  applied  to  national  uses.     From 


FOREIGN    TRAVEL.  63 

this  moment  the  priests  of  France  set  their  faces  like  flints 
towards  the  ruin  of  their  country.  For  a  period  they  remained 
comparatively  quiet,  as  the  administration  of  their  immense 
revenues  were  still  left  in  their  own  hands.  Presently  the  system 
of  paper  money  began  to  operate  a  gradual  alienation  of  the 
property  of  the  church  ;  as  those  who  received  assignats, 
were  permitted  to  lake  a  portion  of  tjie  national  domain  in  the 
redemption  of  them.  This  gradually  transferred  to  the  munici- 
palities the  administration  of  them  ;  and  the  clergy,  making  their 
luxury  and  the  cause  of  religion  the  same,  threw  themselves 
openly  against  the  National  Assembly,  and  plotted  by  every 
means  the  destruction  of  all  that  it  had  heretofore  concurred  in 
establishing.  They  offered  to  pay  down  four  hundred  millions  of 
francs  ;  they  threw  all  sorts  of  impediments  in  the  way  of  the 
municipal  authorities ;  in  the  South,  where  the  Protestants  were 
still  found  in  greater  numbers  than  in  other  parts  of  the  kingdom 
— they  stirred  up  the  Catholics  against  them  ;  they  denounced 
the  sales  of  their  estates,  from  their  altars,  as  sacrilege ;  they 
used  the  confessional  to  alarm  the  consciences  of  their  penitents  ; 
and  in  the  tribune,  applied  all  their  powers,  to  render  the  Assem- 
bly itself  suspected.  The  Bishop  of  Nancy  on  an  incidental 
question,  endeavoured  to  obtain  a  vote,  that  the  Catholic  religion 
was  the  only  religion  of  France ;  and  the  same  decision  was 
again  more  formally  and  violently  urg^ — and  hardly  evaded, 
rather  than  rejected  by  the  Assembly.  They  who  had  shown 
their  love  of  gold  to  be  superior  to  that  of  liberty  and  country 
united ;  shewed  also,  that  persecution,  schism,  and  civil  war 
were  in  their  estimation  trivial  evils,  compared  with  the  exchange 
of  luxury  for  competency. 

The  adoption  of  the  project  for  the  interior  organization  of 
the  kingdom,  served  indeed  as  their  final  pretext.  But  it  was  a 
mere,  and  most  shallow  one.  Not  a  syllable  was  contained  in  it 
touching  the  faith  of  the  church  ;  it  remained  as  it  was.  Not  a 
syllable  about  the  services,  the  ceremonies,  the  functions,  the 
officers,  or  any  of  the  internal  affairs  of  the  church.  The  fixa- 
tion of  the  number  and  bounds  of  the  Bishopricks,  so  as  to  make 
them  accord  with  the  new  departments  ;  nomination  to  them  in  a 


64 


MEMORANDA    OF 


simple  manner,  according  with  the  ancient  mode  of  appointincj- 
pastors,  with  the  concurrence  of  those  to  whom  ihey  were  to 
minister ;  the  suppression  of  a  lew  chapters  whose  canons  were 
to  be  replaced  by  vicars  :  such  was  the  plan.  It  provided  fully 
for  the  support  of  all  the  clergy;  and  for  the  curates  especially, 
better  than  before.  Their  riches,  however,  were  gone;  and 
any  thing  served  for  a  pretext,  when  that  only  was  waited  for. 
The  Archbishop  of  Aix  denounced  the  whole  project,  proclaimed 
his  order  to  be  out  of  the  reach  of  the  civil  authority,  either  as 
it  respected  the  institution  or  destitution  of  Bishopricks ;  and 
when  the  project  was  submitted  to  vote,  left  the  hall,  followed  by 
liis  party,  who  from  that  moment  declared  open  war  against  the 
revolution. — Let  the  world  judge  how  ilir  the  dreadful  shipwreck 
which  followed,  is  justly  attributable  to  these  misguided  men  ; 
and  how  far  their  own  conduct  was  the  necessary  result  of  tlieir 
religious  sentiments. 

It  is  needless  to  trace  minutely  the  sad  tale  involved  in  the 
religious  history  of  France,  for  the  space  of  eleven  years  im- 
mediately following  the  events  of  which  I  have  now  spoken. 
The  civil  wars  in  the  departments,  of  which  religion  made  so 
great  an  ingredient;  the  emigration  of  the  priests — and  the 
horrible  outrages  perpetrated  on  those  that  were  hardy  enough 
to  continue  their  machinations  at  home  ;  the  abolition  of  all  reli- 
gion ;  the  change  of  the  calendar  and  suppression  of  the  Sab- 
bath day ;  the  public  execration  of  the  Bible  ;  the  institution  of 
a  new  religion  by  Robespierre  and  St.  Just;  the  reign  of  atheism 
and  terror  combined  ;  the  long  and  horrible  era  of  the  passions, 
which  developed  themselves  at  home  in  unbridled  excess — and 
abroad  in  superhuman  energy.  On  the  9th  of  Oct.,  1791,  the 
National  Legislative  Assembly,  which  had  succeeded  to  the 
National  Constituent  Assembly,  made  the  first  decree,  and  it  was 
a  mild  and  reasonable  one,  against  the  refractory  clergy.  Louis 
XVI.  refused  to  sanction  it ;  and  the  useless  and  unreasonable 
effort  to  save  men,  bent  on  the  ruin  of  their  country — even  if 
their  own  should  be  involved  in  it,  precipitated  all  that  followed. 
On  the  6th  of  April,  1802,  the  Concordat  between  Napoleon 
and  Pious  VIL,  which  had  been  signed  at  Paris  on  the  15th  of 


FOREIGN    TRAVEL.  65 

July,  and  Rome  on  the  15th  of  August  of  the  preceding  year, 
was  ratified  by  the  Tribune,  and  by  the  Corps  Legislative. 

By  this  concordat,  being  the  second  of  the  four  of  which  M. 
De  Pradt,  Archbishop  of  Malines,  has  written  so  elaborately 
— the  Sabbath  and  the  four  great  fetes  were  restored  ;  and  the 
old  calender  immediately  supplanted  the  system  of  decades. — 
Nine  Archbishops,  and  forty-one  Bishops  (less  than  half  the 
number  provided  for  by  that  project  of  the  constituent  Assembly, 
which  the  Catholic  clergy  had  rejected  with  scorn  eleven  years 
before,)  were  created  by  the  Concordat.  The  clergy  were 
established  as  a  national  estate,  and  subjected  as  formerly,  to  the 
exterior  monarchy  of  the  Pope.  The  Cardinal  Legate  Caprara 
celebrated  this  event  in  the  Cathedral  of  Paris  with  indescribable 
pomp.  After  all,  the  French  ecclesiastics  might  get  a  lesson  of 
wisdom,  by  comparing  even  in  temporal  respects,  what  they 
disdained  in  1791,  with  what  they  joyfully  accepted  in  1802  ;  or 
to  come  still  nearer  to  us,  what  was  despised  under  the  Restora- 
tion, with  what  is  held  as  sacred,  and  by  constitutional  guaran- 
tees, since  the  Revolution  of  1830.  And  it  might  quicken  their 
apprehension  of  the  moral,  to  ponder  on  the  crimes,  the  miseries, 
the  ruin,  which  a  different  line  of  conduct,  on  their  part,  would 
have  conduced  so  largely  to  prevent ;  as  well  as  on,  what  may 
possibly  affect  them  as  much,  the  irreparable  injury  which  they 
have  inflicted  on  the  interests  of  the  see  of  Rome. 

The  Catholic  church  of  France  consists  at  present  of  fourteen 
Archbishops,  and  sixty-four  Bishops.  These  are  nominated  by 
the  King,  and  paid  a  regular  yearly  salary  out  of  the  public  Treas- 
ury. The  latter  fact  is  the  same  with  most  of  the  religious 
teachers  of  France,  whether  Catholic  or  Protestant ;  the  Revolu- 
tion of  1830  having  for  the  second  time,  placed  all  the  sects  upon 
an  equal  footing  in  the  eyes  of  the  law.  Of  this,  however,  I  shall 
have  to  speak  more  particularly  when  treating  in  another  place 
of  the  past  and  present  condition  of  the  Protestants  of  France : 
of  whom  I  may  now  say,  that  they  occupy  a  much  more  impor- 
tant posture,  than  seems  to  be  generally  believed.  But  to  adhere 
to  the  present  subject:  the  Bishops  and  Archbishops  exceed, 
unitedly,  the  number  of  Departments  by  only  two ;  there  being 
7* 


66  MEMORANDA    OF 

eighty-six  of  the  latter  in  France.  They  receive  their  canoni- 
cal institution  from  the  Pope  ;  but  are  not  only  appointed  by  the 
King,  but  before  taking  possession  of  their  sees,  must  take  an 
oath  to  him  which  also  precedes  even  the  verifying  and  regis- 
try of  their  Bulls,  in  the  Council  of  State.  The  Bishops  appoint 
their  own  Vicars  and  Cures,  but  even  these  appointments  are 
submitted  to  the  King  for  his  approval.  The  number  of  Priests 
in  France  is  somewhat  under  forty  thousand  ;  whicli  the  Arch- 
bishop of  Paris  has  said,  was  twelve  thousand  less  than  the  ne- 
cessities of  the  country  required.  The  number  of  nuns  is  not 
easily  ascertained ;  but  is  variously  estimated  at  from  twenty  to 
thirty  thousand. 

The  Catholic  clergy  of  France,  taken  as  a  body,  have  I  pre- 
sume, less  influence  than  any  other  body  of  the  same  number  and 
intelligence  in  the  kingdom.  All  their  poUtical  influence  is  an- 
nihilated. They  have  Httle  connexion  with  public  education ; 
and  fill  few  chairs  of  instruction,  except  those  directly  relating 
to  the  professionable  education  of  their  own  order.  Their 
ecclesiastical  revenues  are  extinct — their  support  being  derived 
either  directly,  and  in  moderate  supplies,  from  the  public  Treas- 
ury ;  or  l>om  their  own  people,  in  voluntary  contributions  of  va- 
rious kinds.  Destitute  of  the  spirit  of  the  age,  and  deprived  of 
the  ordinary  means  on  which  the  church  has  been  accustomed 
to  repose  :  they  constitute,  of  all  churches  that  pretend  to  any 
sort  of  national  existence,  the  most  insignificant.  Indeed  they 
can  no  otherwise  be  called  a  national  church,  than  as  it  is  inscri- 
bed in  the  charter,  that  the  majority  of  the  nation  professes  to 
believe  what  they  teach. 

This  how^ever,  is  a  mere  profession.  Or  rather  the  assertion 
ia  one  which  nobody  believes.  Tlie  majority  of  the  French  are 
not  Catholics.  Of  the  whole  population  of  the  nation  not  one 
in  six  is  supposed  to  be  really  a  papist  in  faith,  or  even  an  oc 
casional  attendant  upon  the  Confessional ;  while  at  least  two- 
thirds  of  them,  live  as  completely  without  God  as  if  there  was 
no  God  in  the  universe. 

Those  who  profess  the  Catholic  faith — I  speak  of  the  bulk  of 
ihem— consider  their  religious  duties  discharged,  by  attending 


FOREIGN    TRAVEL.  67 

mass  on  Sunday,  and  on  the  principal  fetes;  and  confessincr  once 
a  year.  The  former  service  occupies  an  hour  at  most,  on  each 
Sabbath  day — and  on  the  days  of  fete,  which  are  mt  very  nu- 
merous, of  a  character  requiring  general  observance.  The 
hour  spent  at  mass  is  employed  in  listening  to  a  service,  chant- 
ed or  drawled  out,  in  an  unknown  tongue;  and  in  beholdincr  ser- 
vices of  a  puerile  and  impious  superstition,  which,  after  innumer- 
able turnings,  and  bowings  and  gesticulations,  end  in  an  act  of 
direct  and  idolatrous  worship  of  a  piece  of  bread ;  which  all 
the  mummery  had  been  practised  to  transmute  into  the  soul, 
body,  and  divinity  of  Jesus  Christ.  The  yearly  confession 
consists  in  a  full  revelation  of  all  the  evil  thoughts,  words  and 
actions  of  the  preceding  year,  to  a  sinful  worm  of  the  dust,  like 
ourselves ;  who  rewards  his  penitents  for  their  voluntary  and 
degrading  humiliation,  by  a  full  acquittal,  upon  easy  conditions, 
for  all  the  past.  If  any  are  more  devout,  they  manifest  it  by  a 
more  frequent  attendance  on  mass  and  confession  ;  a  more  fre- 
quent repetition  of  idolatrous  prayers  to  the  Virgin  Mary,  the 
host,  and  the  saints;  and  a  more  punctual  substitution  offish 
and  eggs,  for  flesh  and  fowl.  The  days  of  pilgrimage  and  pen- 
ance are  gone  with  those  of  power  and  wealth  ;  and  the  church, 
contracting  at  both  extremes,  has  become  rather  dull  in  its  mon- 
otonous inanity,  for  the  mercurial  natures  of  the  French.  A 
more  calculating  people,  would  have  meditated  rather  of  the 
value  of  such  services.  These  seem  only  to  have  considered 
them  stupid.     Both  views  are  alike  fatal  to  the  church. 

It  is  possible  that  in  one  respect  I  do  the  people  and  the  clergy 
a  double  injustice.  The  latter,  in  attributing  to  a  general  scep- 
ticism that  which  they  permit  and  approve  as  innocent :  the  for- 
mer, in  accusing  them  of  unbelief— for  doing  what  their  religion 
teaches  them  is  commendable.  It  is  most  certain  that  the  ordi- 
nances of  the  church  are  far  better  observed  than  those  of  God  ; 
and  it  is  not  impossible,  that  if  the  church  should  only  condescend 
to  regard  God's  laws  as  binding  on  her,  the  people  might  prove 
that  they  had  gone  astray  through  ignorance  rather  than  irreligion* 
The  saints^  days  are  far  better  kept  than  the  Sabbath  days ;  and 


68  MEMORANDA    OF 

in  all  the  churches  no  altars  are  so  much  neglected  as  those  ded- 
icated to  God  himself.  Though  it  be  not  written  on  his  altar— 
the  Lord  Jesus  is  the  "Unknown  God." 

The  extent  to  which  the  open  contempt  of  religion  is  carried 
is  incredible.  The  King  transacts  business  in  the  public  ofl&ces 
on  Sunday :  the  Queen,  who  is  a  strict  papist,  was  at  a  great 
horse  race  in  the  Champ  de  Mars  last  Sunday  (the  11th  Sept. 
1836);  the  Chamber  of  Peers  met  on  Sunday  to  commence  the 
trial  of  Alibaud  the  last  assassin  who  attempted  the  King's  life: 
and  the  same  body,  during  the  trial  of  all  the  political  prisoners, 
sat  on  Sunday:  their  fairs  alway  occur  on  Sunday;  every  the- 
atre in  France  is  open  every  Sunday;  the  people  employed 
by  the  government,  work  on  Sunday ;  and  it  is,  in  short,  the 
day  selected  for  all  sorts  of  public  amusements — and  specially 
interesting  or  important  occurrences.  As  it  regards  nine-tenths 
of  the  people,  there  is  no  Sabbath  day,  in  any  sense  whatever; 
and  as  to  a  day  consecrated  to  religious  rest  and  instruction  in 
spiritual  things,  the  proportion  which  enjoys  it  is  still  much 
smaller. 

And  yet,  there  are  occasional  evidences,  that  the  most  absurd 
superstition  still  exerts  a  powerful  influence  over  the  public  mind* 
A  most  singular  instance  of  which  occurred  within  a  year,  at 
Nantz,  so  famous  in  the  history  of  the  Protestants  of  France. 
Bishop  Flaget,  who  had  Uved  many  years  in  the  United  States, 
as  Bishop  of  Bardstown,  without  being  suspected  of  possessing 
miraculous  powers ;  returned  to  his  native  country,  and  signalized 
his  declining  years  by  such  astonishing  miracles,  as  none  but 
Prince  Hohenloe  has  performed  during  this  century.  An  im- 
mense sensation  was  created  ;  and  the  faithful  firmly  believe,  and 
have  made  public  boast,  on  full  proof,  that  at  his  voice  the  impo- 
tent walked,  and  by  his  touch  the  sick  were  healed. 

There  are  not  wanting  evidences,  on  the  other  hand,  that  the 
same  hopes  which  inspire  the  subjects  of  the  Pope  every  where, 
are  operating  on  the  clergy  of  France,  and  stirring  them  up  to 
aniinusual  movement.  Attempts  to  curtail  religious  liberty — 
pretensions  to  exclusive  right — vindictive  attacks  on  the  small 


FOREIGN    TRAVEL.  69 

number  of  preists  who  constitute  the  independent  sect,  called 
emphatically  the  French  Catholic  Church,  who  have  translated 
the  service  into  French,  and  separated  from  the  Papal  church — 
persecutions  of  the  evanoelical  clergy — tyrannical  assumptions 
where  they  are  most  numerous — and  a  thousand  indications  of  a 
more  evanescent  kind ;  prove  that  here  also  the  elements  are 
preparinar  themselves  for  that  approaching  conflict,  which,  ii  is 
too  obvious,  awaits  the  church  of  Ciirist,  in  all  lands. 


MEMORANDA  OF 


CHAPTER    VII. 


Departure  from  Paris— Our  Party— Route  to  Germany  by  Strasbourg— Equipment- 
Notices  of  the  Country — Champagne — Vine  Culture — Agricultural  Population — 
Chateau  Thierry— Meux—Eppernay— Chalons— France,  twice  the  Preserver  of 
European  Civilization. 


The  summer  heat  of  Paris,  which  never  scorches  like  that  of 
almost  every  part  of  America,  may  be  said  to  close  with  the 
summer  itself.  By  or  before  the  end  of  August,  the  nights 
become  cool;  and  the  climate,  always  equable,  gradually  softens 
into  a  bracing  temperature.  Very  soon  in  September  the  autum- 
nal rains  set  in  ;  sometimes  in  torrents,  but  generally  in  soft  and 
almost  constant  showers.  These  had  prevailed  for  two  weeks, 
nearly  without  interruption ;  when,  on  the  16th  of  the  month, 
we  left  the  Hotel  Cantorbury,  No.  24,  Rue  de  la  Paix,  to  which 
we  had  removed  a  few  days  after  our  arrival  in  Paris  ;  and  bid- 
ding our  host,  Petrarchi,  to  whom  we  were  obliged  for  six  weeks 
of  great  civility  and  excellent  cheer,  what  seemed  likely  enough 
to  be  a  final  adieu;  we  set  out  for  the  Rhine  ;  intending  also, 
to  visit  Switzerland  and  Italy. 

Our  party  consisted  of  five  adults,  and  an  "  infant  of  days,'* 
as  the  word  of  life  characterizes  the  helpless  beginnings  of  man's 
unending  being.  How  wonderfully  and  fearfully  are  we  created  ! 
A  beginning  so  insignificant,  so  helpless,  so  frail,  to  usher  in  a 
duration  tlienceforth  eternal ;  to  expand  itself  into  results  so 
infinite  and  overwhelming  !  How  wonderfully  and  fearfully  too, 
are  we  hnked  one  with  another;  for  evil  to  the  third  and  fourth, 
but  for  good,  blessed  be  God,  to  the  thousandth  generation !— ' 


FOREIGN    TRAVEL.  71 

To  thee,  sweet  and  tender  one,  what  are  earth  and  all  it  holds, 
10  bless  Ihee  now,  and  teach  thee  to  be  blessed  forever  ;  compared 
with  her  whose  knee  is  the  school  where  thy  all  is  decided ;  and 
on  whose  serene  and  noble  brow^  thou  mayest  read  as  thy  first 
lesson,  that  thou  shalt  lack  nothinoj!  Blessed  be  thy  helpless 
infancy  ;  blessed  be  thy  days  of  life  and  peace^  when  the  eyes 
that  now  fill  with  tears  as  they  gaze  upon  thee,  are  closed  in 
death;  blessed  be  thine  eternal  rest,  through  the  grace  and 
mercy  of  Him,  who  shed  his  precious  blood  for  such  as  thee ! 

We  got  into  a  large  carriage — five  inside  ;  namely,  our  female 
travelling  companion,  our  infant's  mother  and  nurse,  besides 
itself  and  I.  The  courier  on  the  dickey  behind — luggage  every 
where  ; — four  horses  and  two  postillions ; — and  sallying  out  of  the 
Barriere  de  Pantin,  at  the  extremity  of  the  Faubourg  St.  Martin, 
we  took  the  route  for  Strasbourg.  The  carriage  we  hired  at 
about  five  francs  a  day ;  the  horses  and  postillions  belonged  to  or 
were  controlled  by  Louis  Phillippe  the  First — who  not  only  owns 
or  directs  all  in  France,  but  decides^  how  many  of  each  you  must 
take,  or  pay  for,  at  least.  His  code  required  our  equipment  to 
be  as  I  have  specified  ;  for  which,  exclusive  of  the  carriage,  we 
paid  eleven  francs  a  post,  of  five  English  miles.  The  expenses 
at  hotels  were  of  course  extra,  and  generally  high.  Not  indeed 
for  the  mere  food  ;  but  there  is  always  a  separate  and  generally 
high  charge  for  the  rent  of  the  rooms  you  occupy.  For  a  single 
night,  this  charge  for  our  party  varied  from  twelve  to  twenty 
francs.  Upon  the  whole,  it  may  be  said,  that  travelling  in 
France,  in  the  public  conveyances,  is  rather  cheap  ;  being  about 
one  franc  for  each  person,  for  every  five  miles.  But  if,  by  ill 
Jiealth,  one  is  forced  to  use  private  means  of  conveyance ;  or  if, 
for  any  cause,  persons  prefer  travelling  in  that  way,  they  will 
find  it  considerably  more  expensive.  To  the  invalid  it  is  often 
indispensable ;  to  others,  its  advantages  are,  superior  comfort, 
and  if  you  please,  speed,  but  especially  perfect  command  of  your 
time,  and  ample  opportunities  to  see  the  country  and  examine 
every  thing. 

Our  route  lay  directly  east  from  Paris,  and  for  above  a  hundred 
miles  pursued  the  course  of  the  river  Marne,  up  which  it  led  us 


72  MEMORANDA    OF 

in  two  days,  lo  Chalons,  in  the  heart  of  ancient  Champat^ne. 
There  were  two  sources  of  rather  special  interest  to  us,  in  the 
country  through  which  we  passed.  We  were  upon  the  route 
by  which  that  well  meaning  man,  but  weak,  incompetent,  and 
unhappy  King  Louis  XVI.,  made  his  remarkable  flight  from  the 
Capitol  in  the  year  1792  :  and  along  which  he  had  been  brought 
back,  in  effect,  a  prisoner,  after  having  almost  succeeded  in  a 
manner  perfectly  unaccountable  ;  and  at  last  failed,  at  the  very 
instant  of  complete  success,  through  the  same  mal-adroitness 
which  spoiled  so  many  of  his  undertakings.  He  had  reached 
Varennes,  near  to  Metz,  two  hundred  miles  from  Paris,  unsus- 
pected. A  Cew  stages  further  on.  General  Bretuil,  with  whom 
he  had  concerted  his  flight — awaited  him  with  a  powerful 
and  well  aftected  army; — the  King,  confident  of  success — need- 
lessly exposed  himself  to  observation;  was  recognized,  stopped, 
sent  back,  guillotined !  Who  can  say  how  much  of  the  destinies 
of  Europe  depended  on  those  lew  moments  of  imprudence,  which 
gave  so  sombre  a  turn  to  the  fate  of  this  kind-hearted,  but 
deluded  King?  How  full  of  wisdom  is  the  divine  command 
that  we  despise  not  the  day  of  small  things?  How  full  of  con- 
solation is  the  assurance,  that  the  very  hairs  of  our  heads  are  all 
numbered  ? 

Another  and  widely  different  scene  was  enacted,  in  this  same 
region,  in  1814,  by  Napoleon,  in  that  heroic  struggle,  usually 
called  the  Campaign  of  Paris.  Of  all  his  fourteen  great  cam- 
paigns, not  one  perhaps,  was  more  illustrative  of  his  immense 
genius.  And  although  all  Europe  was  armed  against  him,  and 
had  penetrated  into  the  heart  of  France  ;  Paris  fell  at  last,  and 
France  was  dishonoured,  only  by  the  cowardice  or  treason  of 
those  whose  courage  and  fidelity  might  have  covered  tl:Leir 
■country  with  glory.  But  even  in  this  dreadful  exigency,  the 
result  of  the  campaign,  seemed  to  the  last  moment,  doubtful ; 
so  much  so,  that  Napoleon  hastening  with  incredible  speed  to 
the  Capital,  and  almost  alone,  had  arrived  within  five  leagues  of 
the  city,  and  in  an  hour  more  would  have  thrown  himself  in  the 
midst  of  its  brave  population  ;  when  he  was  told — Paris  has 
capitulated ! — He  calmly  replied,  I  am  two  hours  too  late  !    Nay, 


FOREIGN    TRAVEL.  73 

after  the  full  possession  of  Paris  by  tlie  allied  army,  Napoleon 
in  the  review  of  his  campaigns  has  left  it  as  his  fixed  opinion, 
that  but  for  the  defection  of  some  of  his  chief  military  officers, 
and  the  open  treason  of  his  high  civil  agents,  all  the  chances  of 
war  were  still  in  favour  of  France  ;  and  the  ruin  of  the  allied 
army  nearly  certain. 

The  country  itself,  which  has  been  the  theatre  of  such  great 
events,  is  beautiful  beyond  all  description.  The  wide  vallies  of 
the  Marne,  already  stripped  of  the  summer  crop,  and  now  in  a 
process  of  cultivation  to  receive  the  grains  sown  in  autumn  ; 
seem  to  the  traveller  s@  fertile,  so  easily  tilled,  and  so  kind  in 
abundant  returns,  as  to  invite  tillage  and  make  it  doubly  joyful. 
The  rural  landscape  in  France  is  very  peculiar,  and  singularly 
beautiful.  There  are  no  fences,  no  hedges,  no  ditches,  no  houses, 
nor  even  walls,  only  about  the  towns, — and  forests  only  on  the 
tops  of  the  high  hills,  or  in  unfruitful  soils.  The  whole  is  one 
wide  scene  of  cultivation,  varied  by  rows  of  trees  along  the  high 
ways;  and  dotted  over  by  Uttle  villages  clustered  in  every  angle 
of  a  river,  and  hid  away  in  every  recess  of  the  hills ;  with  the 
ancient  spire  or  tower  of  a  church  lifting  itself  above  the  houses. 
The  perfect  cultivation  of  the  vallies ;  the  vineyards  covering 
the  hill  sides — for  they  are  found  only  there ;  the  flocks  of  sheep 
of  the  finest  wool,  with  their  solitary  shepherd,  and  the  small 
black  dog — his  constant  attendant  all  over  Europe  ;  the  troops 
of  children  herding  turkeys  and  geese,  for  in  such  a  country 
every  thing  must  be  herded ;  the  companies  of  villagers  as 
they  labour  together — or  eat  their  coarse  meal  on  the  road  side 
— or  flock  home  with  closing  day ;  every  thing  is  peculiar — and 
all  full  of  life  and  beauty.  One  sees  such  scenes  no  where  else 
in  Europe  :  and  they  who  have  seen  them,  will  dwell  on  them 
in  many  an  after  day.  The  hill  slopes  are  longer,  and  the  hills 
themselves  lower,  than  I  have  seen  those  of  Palestine,  in  my 
dreams  ;  or  else  I  would  say,  to  my  heart,  a  thousand  times  as 
I  passed  through  Champagne, — was  not  Israel  so,  in  the  days 
of  her  power  ? 

I  was  in  the  midst  of  that  region  which  produces  the  wine,  of 
all  others  most  esteemed.    All  the  little  villages  through  which  I 
Vol.  II.— 8 


/4  MEMORANDA    OF 

passed,  give  names  to  brands  more  or  less  esteemed.  I  thoucrl>.' 
it  would  be  about  the  time  of  vintage  ;  for  1  had  been  abundantly 
supplied  for  ten  days  before  leaving  Paris,  with  the  delicious- 
white  grape,  known  under  the  name  of  Chasselas,  but  hawked 
about  that  city  as  the  grape  of  Fontainbleu.  I  had  received 
the  impression  that  the  best  Champagne  was  made  in  part,  if 
not  entirely,  of  this  grape.  I  found  myself  mistaken  in  both 
particulars.  They  told  me  every  v/here,  the  vintage  was  three 
weeks  off;  and  in  the  tens  of  thousands  of  acres  of  vineyards, 
I  saw  in  Champagne,  I  found  the  grapes,  purple  or  red,  nearly 
without  exception. 

As  I  have  already  said,  the  vines  never  occupy  the  best  lands. 
The  ranges  of  hills  on  either  side  of  the  river,  and  other  range.'? 
parallel  to  them,  are  the  seats  of  the  vines ;  which  cover  them 
so  thickly,  and  are  so  crowded  with  the  little  white  sticks  which 
support  them,  that  at  some  distance,  they  would  easily  be  mis- 
taken for  a  field  oi"  clover,  or  some  other  green  crop  in  full 
blossom.  The  vanes  are  planted  without  any  order,  not  above 
a  foot  or  a  foot  and  a  half  apart.  The  sticks  which  support 
them  seem  about  three  feet  high ;  and  a  space  of  at  least  six 
inches  at  the  top  is  bare.  Each  vine  has  from  two  to  six  bunch- 
es of  grapes,  of  a  deep  colour,  which  grow  very  near  the  ground. 
I  presume  the  only  cultivation  they  receive  is  with  the  hoe ;  and 
the  districts  in  which  they  are  most  extensively  cultivated, 
devote  their  greatest  as  well  as  their  most  fertile  portions,  to 
various  grains  and  esculent  roots. 

The  full  half,  probably  two-thirds,  of  the  agricuhural  labour 
of  France  is  performed  by  females.  On  every  road  you  meet 
them  driving  a  donkey  with  a  panier  on  each  side  of  him,  loaded 
with  vegetables,  fruits,  merchandise,  fire-wood,  children,  every 
thing.  In  the  fields  you  see  them  using  the  hoe,  the  mattock, 
the  hook,  the  plough,  the  rake.  Their  dress  is  striking.  Their 
shoes  are  nearly  always  wooden,  as  are  those  of  the  men  also  ; 
no  one  of  either  sex  goes  bare-footed.  I  saw  more  bare-footed 
Avomen  in  Glasgow,  than  men,  women,  and  children,  in  al! 
France.  The  pettycoats  of  the  labouring  women  in  France  are 
very  short;  and  nearly   always  made  of  blue  or  red  cotton. 


FOREIGN    TRAVEL.  75 

On  their  busts  they  wear  a  tiorht  jacket,  that  covers  the  neck,  and 
leaves  the  arms  bare ;  an  indulgence  very  commonly  extended 
to  the  legs  also.  A  flashy  red  handkerchief  tastefully  bound 
around  the  head  completes  the  equipm.ent,  and  aided  by  their 
very  general  comeliness  of  person,  and  vivacity  of  countenance, 
presents  a  striking  and  agreeable  object.  The  bonnet  is  an  un- 
known luxury  ;  and  in  consequence,  they  all  exhibit  the  darkest 
>:warth,  consistent  with  the  idea  of  their  being  really  white. 

The  appearance  of  the  labouring  men,  including  all  sorts  of 
mechanics,  is  quite  as  unique  as  that  of  the  other  sex.  The 
universal  dress  is  of  blue  cotton  ;  pantaloons,  and  an  upper  gar- 
ment, the  most  graceful  and  convenient  a  man  can  put  on,  which 
was  in  common  use  amongst  the  backwoodsmen  of  America, 
when  I  can  first  remember,  called  by  them,  a  hunting  shirt.  It 
is  precisely  the  garment,  which  the  Indian  makes  of  tanned 
skins;  and  which  shows  to  such  advantage,  his  beautiful  pro- 
portions. The  hat  is  nearly  as  unusual  as  the  bonnet,  and  is 
substituted  by  caps  of  all  sorts ;  the  most  common  being  knitted 
*'otton  or  wool,  of  various  colours,  and  without  a  rim.  For  the 
lirst  time  in  Europe,  I  saw  oxen  employed  in  agricultural  labour 
in  Champagne  ;  and  what  surprized  me  more,  harnessed  side  by 
by  side  with  horses. 

There  is  nothing  deserving  of  special  notice  in  the  numerous 
villages  through  which  we  passed  from  Paris  to  Chalons. — 
Chateau  Thierry  is  a  beautiful  place,  and  has,  passing  along  one 
side  of  it,  a  curious  promontory,  upon  which  are  extensive  ruins 
of  the  ancient  castle  from  which  it  derives  its  name— a  name 
common  amongst  the  early  princes  of  the  Francs.  Its  public 
walks  are  beautiful ;  and  at  one  end  of  them  is  a  monument  of 
La  Fontaine,  who  was  born  here.  At  La  Ferte-Sous-Jouare,  is 
one  of  the  most  extensive,  and  probably  the  very  best  manufac- 
tory of  mill-stones,  in  Europe.  I  saw  enough  to  supply  the 
kingdom,  it  seem.ed  to  me,  for  a  century  to  come.  Meaux,  an 
ancient  and  rather  pretty  town,  about  twenty-five  miles  from 
Paris,  is  famous,  chiefly  for  having  given  his  episcopal  title  to 
Bossuet,  the  greatest,  the  shrewdest,  and  amongst  the  most 
unscrupulous  enemies  of  the  Protestants ;  whose  false  citation.s 


76  MEMORANDA   OF 

of  authority,  and  assertions  of  fact,  make  the  substance  of  the 
present  Papal  arguments  for  their  system.  It  is  a  most  instruc- 
tive comment  on  what  Papism  is,  and  on  the  manner  in  which 
it  has  always  been  defended, — that  Bossuet  in  his  defence  of 
his  system,  lame  as  it  is,  was  obliged  to  depart  so  far  from  the 
system  itself,  that  his  defence  has  been  always  discountenanced 
at  Rome  ;  while  the  partizans  of  Rome  throughout  the  earth, 
leach  as  authentic,  that  which  they  themselves  dare  not  believe  ! 

Eppernay,  near  to  Chalons,  is  the  centre  of  a  great  commerce 
in  wines;  and  is  an  object  of  interest  on  account  of  some  recol- 
lections of  Henry  IV.,  connected  with  it.  The  worst  inn  in 
France,  I  think,  is  there.  At  Chalons,  we  spent  the  Sabbath 
day.  And  although  denied  the  privilege  of  worshipping  with 
those  of  our  own  hopes — and  grieved  rather  than  comforted  at 
the  rights  of  a  strange  faith,  which  seem  but  the  more  idolatrous 
as  they  are  better  understood  ;  and  sick  at  heart  amid  the  unbe- 
lief of  the  thousands  who  openly  despise  the  only  religion  they 
know  any  thing  about;  we  yet  rejoiced  in  the  recurrence  of 
another  day  of  sweet  and  solemn  rest.  Do  Christians  reflect 
how  much  they  lose,  and  how  terrible  is  the  influence  of  their 
example,  by  the  too  common  desecration,  especially  by  those 
who  travel,  of  the  Lord's  day  ? 

In  the  immediate  vicinity  of  Chalons,  one  of  the  most  remark- 
able and  important  events  in  the  history  of  Europe,  occurred. 
I  speak  of  the  overthrow,  the  annihilation  of  the  power  of  Attila 
the  Hun,  by  the  Patrician  ^tius,  about  the  middle  of  the  fifth 
century.  The  fierce  barbarian  at  the  head  of  a  troop  of  savage 
nations,  and  leading  in  person  five  hundred  thousand  picked 
warriors,  had  dessolated  all  the  northern  provinces  of  the  Roman 
Empire  ;  and  now  in  his  exterminating  career,  fell  upon  Gaul. — 
jEtius,  almost  the  last  great  captain  of  the  Empire,  by  the  power 
of  tactics  and  the  force  of  military  skill,  pressed  back  the  barba- 
rian king  from  the  heart  of  the  kingdom,  into  the  wide  and  open 
plains  of  Champagne ;  and  it  was  here  that  awful  victory  was 
won, — the  last  which  adorns  the  annals  of  Rome — which  if  it 
could  not  preserve  her  from  ruin,  at  least  saved  Europe  from 
barbarism.    The  influence  of  the  Moguls  in  India,  of  the  Mont- 


FOREIGN    TRAVEL.  77 

€hous  in  China,  of  the  Tartar  invasion  upon  Russia,  and  indeed 
upon  every  nation  v^^here  they  have  fixed  their  abode  ;  leaves  no 
"oora  to  doubt,  what  would  have  been  the  present  condition  ot' 
Europe,  if  the  Huns,  the  fiercest  and  least  civilized  of  all  the 
Tartars,  had  succeeded  in  their  plans  of  conquest. — After  sf  whole 
day  of  butchery,  night  closed  in,  leaving  the  victory  as  yet 
hardly  decided  ;  and  one  hundred  and  sixty  thousand  men  dead 
on  the  field  of  battle  t  ft  is  indeed  with  astonishment  and  admi- 
ration, exclaims  the  first  of  living  historians,  that  we  contem- 
plate the  most  formidable  power  that  ever  affrighted  the  world, 
dashed  to  pieces  against  the  last  ruins  of  ancient  civilization.  It 
33  mournful,  but  most  instructive  too,  to  recall  that  this  illustrious 
benefactor  of  the  human  race,  the  great  ^Etius,  who  had  saved, 
and  who  alone  of  all  mankind  seemed  still  able  to  save  the  Em- 
pire ;  was  assassinated  by  the  Emperor  himself,  Valentinian  III., 
the  last  and  detestable  descendant  of  the  great  Theodosius— 
aided  by  his  eunuchs  and  courtezans  ! 

Nor  is  this  the  only  occasion  on  which  France  has  preserved 
by  her  courage  and  prowess,  the  civilization  of  Europe  from 
total  shipwreck.  Three  centuries  later  than  the  period  of  which 
!  have  spoken,  Charles  Martel  saved  mankind  from  the  dominion 
of  the  Saracens,  as  ^tius  had  before  done  from  that  of  the 
Huns.  The  victory  of  Poictiers  over  Abderrahman,  as  really 
decided  that  Europe  should  not  be  Mahomedan,  as  that  of 
Chalons  did,  that  it  should  not  be  heathen  ;  as  each  in  its  turn 
did,  that  Asia  having  once  given  light  to  Europe,  should  not 
afterwards  overwhelm  her  again  with  darkness.  In  this  case 
also,  the  massacre  of  the  conquered  is  described  to  have  been 
terrific.  Nor  can  it  be  doubted.  For  that  power  cannot  be 
small,  which,  as  it  were,  by  a  single  stroke  shatters  on  the  one 
hand,  great  empires;  and  on  the  other,  preserves  the  liberty, 
the  religion,  the  very  existence  of  states ! 


8* 


78  MEMORANDA  OF 


CHAPTER   VIII. 


Boute  from  Chalons  to  the  Ehine— Lorraine— General  Aspect  of  the  Conntry-* 
Alsace— The  Vosges  and  Saverne  Mountains— The  Western  Valley  of  the  Rhine 
—National  Manners  and  Employments— Inns— Items  and  Incidents— General 
Condition,  Character  and  Custom  of  the  People. 


From  Chalons  to  Strasbourg  the  distance  is  somewhat  over 
two  hundred  miles.  We  accomplished  it  in  three  days'  travel, 
of  about  ten  hours  each.  For  fifteen  leagues  we  followed  the 
course  of  the  Marne,  to  St*  Dizier,  which  is  the  last  town  of 
Champagne  on  that  side ;  and  soon  after  passing  which  you 
enter  Lorraine.  Champagne,  above  Chalons,  is  less  beauti- 
ful and  less  fertile  than  below  it.  Occasionally  the  hills  become 
lofly,  barren,  and  wild,  and  vines  disappear.  From  St.  Dizier 
to  Ligney,  which  is  situated  on  the  Ornain,  a  branch  of  the 
Meuse,  and  from  thence  by  Void  to  Toul  on  the  Moselle,  the 
\vhole  distance  being  about  twenty  leagues— the  aspect  of  the 
country  is  still  more  abrupt,  the  forests  more  extensive,  and  the 
vallies  smaller  and  less  perfectly  cultivated.  This  will  not  be 
wondered  at,  when  it  is  remembered  that  three  of  the  principle 
rivers  of  France  find  the  sources  of  some  of  their  chief  branches 
in  this  high  region.  From  this  elevated  region,  which  formed  a 
part  of  ancient  Champagne,  issued  forth  those  fierce  Senones, 
a  tribe  of  the  aboriginal  Celts,  who  not  only  conducted  an 
offensive  war  against  Rome  for  about  a  hundred  years;  but 
under  the  guidance  of  the  terrible  Brennus,  sacked,  and  had 
nearly  destroyed  tiie  eternal  city. 


FOREIGN    TRAVEL.  79 

After  passing  the  Moselle  the  face  of  the  country  assumes 
-^gain,  all  its  former  beauty;  and  from  thence  entirely  across 
Lorraine,  the  traveller  is  enchanted  at  every  step,  to  behold 
scattered  profusely  around,  the  evidences  of  contentment,  indus- 
try, health  and  comfort ;  the  proofs  of  a  frugal,  and  kind  tem- 
pered people ;  the  monuments  cf  a  genial  climate  and  a  grateful 
soil.  When  the  sons  of  Louis  le  Debonnaire,  divided  the  empire 
of  the  Francs,  between  themselves,  in  813,  Lothaire  united  to 
Italy  the  whole  eastern  portion  of  France  from  the  sea  of 
Provence  to  the  mouths  of  the  Rhine  and  the  Scheldt.  This 
long  and  narrow  slip,  which  included  the  whole  Germanic  popu- 
lation of  interior  Gaul  was  called  Lotharingia,  or  the  kingdom 
of  Lothaire ;  whence  the  German  Lothringen,  and  the  French 
Lorraine. 

Alsace  is  to  the  east  of  Lorraine.  The  little  town  of  Phals- 
bourg,  strongly  fortified  by  Vauban,  is  at  the  foot  of  the  Vosges 
on  the  western  or  Lorraine  side ;  on  the  eastern  or  Alsatian  foot 
is  Saverne.  The  ascent  of  the  Vosges,  on  this  side,  does  not 
excite  notice,  except  on  account  of  the  extensive  forest,  some- 
what larger  than  common ;  for  European  forests  generally,  are 
insignificant  things  when  compared  with  those  of  America.— 
This  is  a  part  of  the  once  vast  and  famous  wilderness  of  Arden- 
ne.  When  you  pass  the  summit  of  the  mountain,  and  turn  to 
descend  into  the  flat  plains  of  Alsace,  a  sight  of  enchanting 
beauty  presents  itself.  As  far  as  you  can  see,  to  the  right  and 
left,  is  one  immense  plain,  ascending  and  swelling  away  from  the 
foot  of  the  Vosges,  to  the  summit  of  the  Saverne  mountains, 
some  leagues  off  and  the  whole  cultivated  to  the  highest  degree 
of  perfection.  The  mountain,  whose  side  you  descend  by  a  most 
delightful  road,  is  thickly  wooded  to  the  summit,  upon  which,  to 
your  right,  are  the  ruins  of  three  immense  castles.  In  the  plain, 
I  counted  eight  villages,  besides  the  town  of  Saverne  just  under 
you.  Now  deluge  this  scene,  with  the  rich  light  of  an  autumnal 
sun,  shed  from  behind  you,  as  he  hastens  to  his  rest, — and  you 
will  hardly  blush  for  the  enthusiasm  to  which  the  vehement 
progress  of  the  carriage  seems  too  slow,  till  you  could  plunge 
into  it !    What  glorious  spots  there  are^  of  which  they  who 


so 


MEMORANDA    OF 


run  up  and  down  the  earth  have  told  us  nothing!  And  wha? 
monstrous  fools  they  make  of  themselves  and  us,  in  passing  them 
in  silence,  to  seduce  us  into  some  den,  where  they  have  to  show 
us  only  the  mouldering  evidences,  that  some  savage  lived,  or 
some  tyrant  died ! 

This  delicious  plain  communicates  with  one  much  broader^ 
by  a  narrow  and  deep  ravine  which  penetrates  the  Saverne 
mountains :  and  through  the  two  vallies  you  pass,  a  distance  of 
ten  leagues,  to  Strasbourg — near,  not  on,  the  Rhine.  The  people 
of  Alsace  are  really  Germans.  They  speak  that  language  as 
their  vernacular  tongue  ;  many  of  them  are  as  entirely  ignorant 
of  French,  as  if  they  belonged  to  another  kingdom.  Over  the 
doors,  the  signs  are  all  written  in  both  languages.  The  houses 
are  thoroughly  German ;  with  enormous  walls,  and  sharp  roofs, 
in  which  are  contained  nearly  as  many  rooms  as  in  all  the  build- 
ing besides.  Three  rows  of  windows  in  the  roof  are  very 
common.  The  people  are  fairer,  stouter,  more  grave,  better  clad, 
and  more  skilful  in  the  art  of  husbandry.  The  women  nearly  all 
wear  bonnets;  and  though  the  favourite,  blue  and  red  are  still 
their  chosen  colours,  the  wide  rimmed  bonnets,  of  the  women, 
and  the  cocked  hats  of  the  men,  with  their  redundant  slouched 
rims — make  them  appear  very  different  from  the  people  of 
Champagne  and  Lorraine. 

The  people  of  these  provinces,  however,  are  different  in  their 
appearance  and  dress.  Those  of  Lorraine,  seemed  to  me,  not 
so  dark,  nor  so  homely,  as  those  of  Champagne  :  while  the  singu 
lar  looking  wadded  cap,  which  the  females  wear  on  the  back  of  the 
head, — gives  a  bold  and  naked  expression  to  their  faces.  In  all 
these  provinces,  as  nearly  every  where  I  believe  in  Europe,  the  fe- 
male partakes  of  every  species  of  male  labour ;  and  the  male  some- 
times obtrudes  into  the  peculiar  province  of  the  other  sex.  If 
you  see  a  woman  herding  sheep  on  the  hill  side,  it  is  an  even 
chance  that  you  find  a  man  playing  feme  de  Chamber  at  the 
next  inn.  You  find  a  woman  pulling  or  breaking  hemp,  which 
is  considered,  in  America,  the  very  hardest  labour ;  and  in  the 
best  hotels,  frequently  find  a  man  sheeting  beds,  and  arranging 
the  apartments  of  female  guests.    All  distinctions  on  these  sub- 


FOREIGN   TRAVEL.  81 

jects  seem,  to  a  considerable  degree  abolished ;  and  each  betakes 
himself  or  herself,  to  that  employment  which  chance  or  caprice 
dictates.  The  most  general  fact  seems  to  be,  that  the  two  sexes 
prefer  to  work  in  company;  and  either  will  employ  themselves,  in 
the  other's  more  appropriate  offices,  rather  than  be  deprived  of 
the  other's  society.  Every  thing  gives  way  to  this  mutual  want. 
Drinking,  which  in  England  is  one  great  end  of  existence, — 
yields  in  France  to  this  superior  instinct ;  for  the  Frenchman 
leaves  the  dinner  table  with  his  wife  or  daughter  or  female  friend, 
just  at  the  moment,  when  the  Englishman  fixes  himself  for  what 
he  calls  enjoyment — by  sending  o^the  ladies  and  bringing  better 
wines.  Even  in  the  CafTees,  and  the  restourants,  you  constant- 
ly find  well  dressed  females,  dining,  supping,  reading  newspa- 
pers and  sauntering  with  their  male  relatives  and  friends;  and 
the  presiding  genius  in  such  places,  is  without  exception,  a  fe- 
male dressed  to  excess,  and  seated  in  some  central  and  conspic- 
uous place. — I  am  told  that  even  at  the  gambling  houses,  you 
constantly  find  w^omen. 

In  its  general  character,  the  formation  of  the  section  of  France 
lying  between  Paris  and  Strasbourg, — is  the  same  as  that  be- 
tween Paris  and  Boulogne.  The  original  rocks  are  nowhere 
seen;  tlie  strata  of  all  kinds,  are  generally  horizontal,  and 
never  dip  more  than  a  very  few  degrees.  The  country  in 
most  places  seems  to  rest  on  vast  beds  of  chalk, — thickly 
interspersed  with  lime  stone,  and  abounding,  in  many  localities, 
with  a  species  of  soft  sand  stone,  easily  cut  and  which  harden- 
ing by  exposure  to  the  atmosphere,  is  very  excellent  for  build- 
ing. Slate  must  be  rare,  for  the  houses  are  all  covered  with 
tiles ;  which  give  to  the  villages,  a  red  and  rather  repulsive  ap- 
pearance. About  Vic,  and  Dieuze  in  the  Department  of  Meur- 
the  are  salt  springs ;  and  at  Ligny,  in  the  Department  of  Meuse, 
are  manufactories  of  Iron.  The  country  abounds  with  immense 
beds  of  clay,  out  of  which  quantities  of  earthenware  of  a  beau- 
tiful description  are  made  in  many  places.  And  manufactories 
of  cotton,  lace,  linen,  paper,  hosiery,  hats,  &c.  &c.  abound  every 
where.  In  many  places  beds  of  gravel  are  found  covering  hun- 
dreds of  acresj— and  to  these  we  may  attribute  the  excellence  of 


82 


MEMORANDA    OF 


the  roads.  For  a  more  delightful  one  of  equal  length  is  not  easily 
found  ;  and  like  all  the  other  roads  of  France,  it  is  made  at  the 
public  expense,  and  travelled  free  of  toll.  This  last  fact  is  not 
likely  lo  escape  notice  by  those  Avho  have  been  in  England,  where 
the  toll,  for  a  carriage  drawn  by  a  pair  of  horses,  is  about  three 
pence  sterling  a  mile. — You  see  no  wild  animal  of  any  kind, — in 
travelling  through  France  ;  and  even  birds  are  very  rare.  The 
Cuckoo,  is  the  most  common  object  that  has  life,  and  freedom  :  a 
shy,  and  rather  large  bird,  with  white  wings  and  a  black  body, — 
shaped  like  a  blackbird,  though  twice  as  large, — and  which  is 
unknown  in  America. 

We  took  no  pains  to  reach  such  inns,  as  were  considered  best ; 
our  desire  being  rather  to  know  what  France  was,  than  to  enjoy 
her  best  gifts.  One  who  is  content  to  take  what  he  can  get,  can 
always  get  something ;  and  is  thus  perfect  master  of  his  move- 
ments. The  better  class  of  French  Hotels  are  the  best  1  have 
seen,  in  any  country.  In  the  very  poorest  inn,  in  the  smallest 
village,  you  are  certain,  of  a  clean  bed, — and  a  cup  of  excellent 
coffee  ;  the  latter  is  a  luxury,  which  you  seldom  meet  with  even 
in.  the  best  English  or  American  Hotels.  But  this  is  the  most 
that  can  be  said :  for  the  doings  of  these  people  are  in  some 
respects,  hardly  to  be  borne  with.  At  Bourdonnay,  a  village  of 
a  thousand  persons,  about  twenty-five  miles  east  of  Nancy,  we 
spent  one  night,  at  the  best  of  the  village  inns.  Before  we  could 
get  to  the  door  of  the  house,  the  flank  of  a  large  manure  bank 
which  stood  directly  in  front  of  the  door  had  to  be  turned.  1 
found  this  to  be  the  case  at  nearly  every  door  in  the  place ;  and 
generally  in  all  other  villages.  When  the  door  was  reached,  a 
contest  of  a  few  moments  with  a  flock  of  geese,  that  occupied 
the  narrow,  damp  and  dark  passage,  had  to  be  pretty  severely 
waged,  to  induce  them  to  sally  forth  upon  a  second  bank  of 
manure,  which  blockaded  the  back  door.  A  wide  stairway 
turning  short  out  of  the  vault,  for  the  passage  was  no  more,  l«d 
us  upon  a  balcony,  inside  the  house,  lighted  from  above, — and 
open  to  the  ground  floor.  Upon  one  side  was  the  chimney, 
about  thirty  feet  broad  by  ten  deep, — open  at  the  bottom,  and 
tapered  up  like  a  funnel.      This  fashion  of  building  cliiranies,, 


FOREIGN    TRAVEL.  83 

which  is  common,  is  the  more  preposterous,  as  they  hardly  ever 
use  fire^  except  for  cooking ;  and  then  in  the  least  possible  quan- 
tity.— On  another  side  of  the  balcony  but  under  the  same  roof 
was  a  mill ; — and  opposite  to  it  our  chambers.  Yet  after  so  sad 
a  presage,  we  found  Monsieur  Berger  a  good  host ;  his  littit 
daughter  Victorine,  a  smart  attendant ;  and  his  interior  accom- 
modations really  good. 

A  second  night  was  passed  at  Void,  a  village  of  fourteen  hun- 
dred souls  in  the  Department  of  Meuse  ;  and  here  an  incident  of 
a  trifling  kind,  threw  some  light  on  the  slate  of  the  people.  We 
were  rather  late  in  getting  to  the  inn  ;  our  party  somewhat  larger 
than  usually  tarried  at  it ;  and  a  mother  with  a  young  child,  and 
herself  in  feeble  health  made  some  extra  arrangements  neces- 
sary.— In  the  course  of  our  conversation,  with  each  other,  and 
with  the  people  of  the  house,  they  gathered  that  1  was  the  father 
of  the  child.  Afterwards,  when  our  repast  was  served,  it  appear- 
ed they  had  concluded  from  my  invoking  the  blessing  of  God 
upon  it — that  I  was  a  priest.  When  the  nurse  was  about  to  put 
the  child  to  rest  in  its  mother's  bed, — the  daughter  of  our  host,  a 
grown  and  rather  pretty  woman,  interfered  and  forbade  it.  On 
being  required  to  explain  herself, — she  said,  the  Priest  had  said 
the  child  must  not  sleep  with  its  mother ! — And  on  being  further 
questioned, — it  turned  out,  that  she  so  understood  something  I 
liad  said ! — Then  according  to  her  notions,— it  was  not  out  of 
the  way  for  priests  sworn  to  celibacy,  to  have  children  ;  and  open- 
ly to  exercise  authority,  supposed  to  belong  only  to  husbands ! 
On  the  other  hand,  it  was  incompatible  with  her  Ideas  that 
one,  not  a  priest,  should  openly  and  reverently  thank  God  for  his 
daily  bread  ! — And  in  defiance  of  all  explanation,  the  poor  woman 
seemed  resolved  to  abide  the  truth  of  that  solution  of  the  matter 
— which  accorded  best  with  her  own  ideas  and  the  state  of 
manners  around  her. 

At  the  town  of  St.  Dizier,  I  had  another  occasion  to  get  an 
item  of  knowledge  on  the  same  general  and  interesting  topic — 
the  condition  of  society  amongst  the  people  at  large.  We  stop- 
ped an  hour  for  rest  at  mid  day;  and  in  walking  about  the  place, 
I  fell  upon  the  Hotel  de  Ville,  or  Town  House,  and  walked  in. 
Multitudes  of  advertisements  hung  upon  the  walls,  and  were 


84  MEIHORANDA    OF 

pasted  and  nailed  to  pillars,  just  as  I  had  seen  them  all  my  life 
I  read  many  with  curiosity  and  interest;  and  found  in  them,  the 
same  evidence  of  the  misfortunes,  the  vicissitudes,  the  tempta- 
tions, the  speculations,  and  the  whole  strife  of  existence  that 
thickens  upon  us  from  every  source,  so  soon  as  our  ardent  pas- 
sions give  us  liberty  to  feel  it.  Among  the  rest  was  the  one 
I  wished  to  mention.  It  was  a  list  of  all  the  convictions  for 
offences  'followed  by  infamy' — as  it  was  expressed — in  the  town, 
for  one  year  ending  with  February  1836.  It  was  neatly  printed, 
and  contained  in  rows,  the  names,  with  the  ages  and  description 
of  the  culprits;  the  crime  with  its  circumstances  ;  and  the  pun- 
ishment. Tlie  punishments  seemed  to  me  just, — and  exceeding- 
ly well  discriminated;  and  the  whole  affair  impressed  me  favour- 
ably, towards  several  points  of  the  criminal  jurisprudence  of  the 
country.  The  li&t  of  crimes,  engaged  my  special  notice.  I 
observed  in  Ireland,  that  out  of  every  list  of  crimes  above  half 
were  breaches  of  the  public  peace.  In  England,  the  multitude 
of  murders,  bears  a  shocking  proportion  to  the  whole  number 
of  crimes.  In  this  list,  which  contained  ten  cases,  there  Was 
no  murder,  no  breach  of  peace ;  five  of  the  cases  were  theft — 
and  four  rape!  I  believe  you  will  find  similar  results  to  follow  in 
at  thousand  cases,  in  the  three  countries  :  and  they  throw  a  strong 
light  on  the  characters  of  the  respective  nations. 

In  the  same  public  hall,  was  a  shallow  box  fastened  to  the  wall, 
and  protected  in  fi-ont  by  a  screen  of  wire,  through  which  you 
could  read  a  notice  fixed  up  in  it.  It  was  a  notice  of  a  contem- 
plated marriage — a  publishing  of  the  bans,  by  posting  up  a 
placard,  instead  of  by  outcry  on  the  Sabbath,  at  church.  Both 
ways  seem  amazingly  like  advertising  a  lost  quadrnped  ;  and 
show  how  much  pains  the  rulers  of  the  world  take  to  befool  the 
people,  for  no  end.  I  read  the  notice  of  course,  and  observed  in 
it  two  things,  common  in  France,  and  uncommon  with  us.  The 
man's  middle  name  was  Maria,  the  woman's  Joseph  .  and  noth- 
ing is  more  common  here  than  for  each  sex  to  take  names  thai 
belong  to  the  other.  Indeed  the  common  mode  of  naming  chil- 
dren is  to  give  each  child  the  principal  name  of  both  its  parents  ; 
boys,  for  example,  are  all  Joseph  Maria — the  girls  all  Maria 


FOREIGN    TRAVEL.  85 

Joseph, — and  then  to  both,  are  added  other  names,  male  and 
female,  without  discrimination  or  limit.  It  apeared  also,  that 
the  lady  was  six  years  the  elder  of  the  two ;  which  reveals 
another  custom  carried  to  so  absurd  a  decree,  that  every  French 
Woman  seems  to  consider  every  man  no  matter  of  what  age  or 
condition,  so  that  he  be  not  her  son  or  father,  open  to  the  im- 
pression of  her  charms.  The  consequences  are  often  extremely 
revolting;  still  oftener  irresistibly  ludicrous.  But  on  the  whole, 
^he  power  of  female  influence  is  prolonged  to  a  much  later  period 
of  life ;  and  old  age  in  both  sexes  is  freed  from  many  habits  that 
so  often  make  it  repulsive. 


VdL.  n.— 9 


86 


MEMORANDA    OF 


CHAPTER  IX. 


The  City  of  Nancy— The  princely  House  of  Lorraine— Strasbourg— The  Cathedral- 
Idolatrous  Worship  of  Joan  of  Arc,  and  of  the  Virgin  Mary — Ascent  of  the  Ci^ 
thedral  Spire — View  from  it— Lists  of  Names— Telegraph— Insurrection  of  Loui* 
Napoleon — Reminiscence  of  John  Calvin. 


Nancy,  the  Capital  of  Lorraine  strictly  so  called,  is  one 
of  the  most  beautiful  cities  of  France.  Situated  in  an  extensive 
and  fertile  plain  on  the  Muerthe,  not  far  above  its  junction  with 
the  Moselle,  surrounded  by  lofty  hills  covered  with  vineyards — 
divided  by  straight  and  regular  streets,  and  finely  built  up  willi 
lofty  stone  houses,  it  presents  a  delightful  aspect  to  the  visiter. — 
It  contains  thirty  thousand  inhabitants,  and  has  many  objects 
worthy  of  inspection.  In  the  midst  of  the  Royal  Square,  standi 
a  fine  monument  to  Stanislaus  Duke  of  Lorraine  and  Bar,  and 
King  of  Poland.  The  palace  and  sepulchres  of  the  ancestors 
of  this  renowned  house,  are  still  exhibited  ;  and  perhaps  few  of 
the  proudest  of  Europe  have  produced  more  illustrious  names. 
From  the  days  of  Clovis  even  to  our  own,  kings,  dukes,  and 
princes;  statesmen,  churchmen,  and  soldiers;  queens, beautie.^. 
and  courtezans  ;  all  famous  over  the  earth,  have  sprung  from  this 
long  descended  race.  And  it  has  been  a  rare  signalized  by  mis- 
fortunes, which  did  not  always  teach  it  virtue  or  moderation. 
Out  of  the  thirteien  princely  branches  into  which  this  family  has 
been  lineally  divided,  the  one  best  known  to  the  English  reader, 
nnd  which  may  be  taken,  both  in  its  temper  and  fate,  as  a  speci- 
men of  all ;  is  that  whicii  the  church  of  God  has  had  so  much 
reason  to  call  the  bloody  house  of  Guise ;  from  which  sprung 


FOREIGN    TRAVEL.  87 

Mary  of  Scotland,  whose  misfortunes  have  seduced  mankind 
into  a  forge tfulness  of  her  crimes  ;  and  tlie  Cardinal  of  Lorraine, 
lamous  in  the  Council  of  Trent,  and  the  subsequent  persecutions 
of  the  Reformed  church  of  France, 

Nor  should  I  omit  to  mention  Strasbourg :  which  is  a  still 
Uirger  and  more  interestinir  city.  It  contains  about  fifty  thousand 
inhabitants  ;  is  divided  by  the  lillle  river  111,  and  is  very  strono^Iy 
J()rtified  and  garrisoned.  It  was  built  by  the  Romans  to  defend 
their  frontier  on  tlie  Rhine,  against  the  Germans.  It  has  many 
objects  of  interest,  and  is  a  very  great  thoroughfare  for  travellers 
who  pass  up  or  down  the  Rhine,  as  well  as  for  those  who  pass 
from  France  into  the  heart  of  Germany,  or  vice  versa.  The 
Lutheran  church  of  France  has  a  Faculty  of  Theology  here; 
and  there  are  schools  of  law,  physic,  science  and  letters,  con- 
nected with  the  general  system  of  the  French  Government.  Its 
public  library  contains  fifty  thousand  volumes  ;  a  kind  of  treas- 
ure which  we  need  more  in  America,  than  any  other  Europe 
can  boast.  But  the  great  object  of  attraction,  is  the  vast,  and 
useless  or  worse  than  useless  Cathedral,  in  which  for  above 
fight  hundred  years  they  have  taught  the  people  to  worship 
those  who  are  no  gods.  It  is  an  immense  pile,  whose  highest 
spire  reaches  the  hight  of  nearly  five  hundred  feet;  rising  higher 
even,  as  they  boast,  than  St.  Peter's  at  Rome.  It  is  a  perfect 
specimen  of  fine  Gothic  architecture,  loaded  to  excess  with 
ornaments,  and  interminable  carvings.  The  interior  is  one  spa- 
f^ious  hall,  divided  by  two  rows  of  massive  pillars,  which  support 
tlie  high  vaulted  stone  roof.  On  either  side  are  the  usual 
compliment  of  chapels ;  and  rather  a  redundant  supply  of  the 
finest  stained  glass,  in  the  great  windows.  At  the  end,  in  the 
centre,  is  the  grand  altar,  and  a  carved  pulpit  of  great  beauty 
and  richness;  on  one  side  is  an  enormous  apparatus,  which 
seemed  as  I  looked  casually  at  it,  to  be  covered  with  figures  and 
astronomical  characters,  and  is  probably  intended  for  some 
scientific  use ;  on  the  other  is  a  corresponding  recess,  fitted  up 
ibr  worship,  according  to  their  fashion.  Here  the  Papist  is  at 
home  ;  and  in  the  hour  I  spent  in  the  cathedral,  nearly  a  hundred 
persons,  performed  acts  of  devotion  there.      What  did  they 


88  MEMORANDA    OF 

worship? — I  tried  to  discover.  There  were  six  young  men  on 
their  knees  before  a  railing ;  in  front  of  them  three  old  women  ; 
scattered  behind  them,  other  persons  of  both  sexes.  In  front  of 
them,  hung,  fastened  in  some  way  to  a  pillar,  a  female  figure 
about  as  large  as  a  girl  ten  years  old.  It  was  dressed  in  the 
tip  of  the  mode,  white  satin,  with  a  lace  apron,  a  crown  on  its 
head,  and  I  should  say  at  a  guess,  three  pounds  of  beads  on  its 
neck  and  breast.  On  the  base  of  the  frame  that  supported  it 
was  a  latin  inscription,  stating  that  the  reliques  of  St.  Joan  were 
there.  I  infer,  therefore,  that  this  was  the  image  of  that  heroic 
and  unhappy  girl,  commonly  called  Joan  of  Arc,  who  was  born 
in  a  village  of  Lorraine,  not  far  off;  and  who  has  had  the 
double  misfortune  of  having  been  burnt  for  a  witch  by  the 
English,  and  of  being  worshipped  as  a  saint  by  the  French. 
How  opposite  are  the  modes  in  which  nations  may  become  infa- 
m6us  !  The  kneeling  crowd  before  her  image,  acted  precisely  as 
they  would  have  done,  if  they  were  worshipping  the  thing  itself; 
and  whether  it  be  more  proper  to  worship  a  dead  woman,  or  her 
image,  I  leave  others  to  settle. 

I  examined  the  whole  matter  with  care.  On  the  left  side  of 
the  altar  and  the  figure,  stood  a  sort  of  rack  ;  upon  which  hung 
in  rows  above  each  other,  fifty-seven  images  in  white  wax.  1 
counted  them  twice:  there  were  just  fifty-seven.  Of  these 
nine  were  small  busts,  only  exhibiting  the  head  and  neck ;  and 
depending  by  a  string  from  the  top  of  the  head.  Four  were 
hearts ;  each  about  as  large  as  the  palm  of  the  hand.  Eight 
were  liliputian  human  figures ;  complete,  but  only  a  few  inches 
long,  and  moulded  into  all  sorts  of  attitudes.  The  remainder  of 
the  fifty-seven,  were,  in  about  equal  proportions,  legs  and  arms ; 

perfect,  but  very  small,  and  each  hanging  to  its  own  hook. 

There  was  room  enough  on  the  rack,  for  as  many  more  as  were 
on  it.    Who  put  them  there,  and  for  what  purpose  ?— Inquire  of 

some  Catholic  friend  ; — and  if  he  be  not  ashamed  to  tell  you, 

you  will  learn  one  more  tale,  which  if  you  have  a  Christian  heart, 
will  fill  your  eyes  with  tears. 

On  the  opposite  side  of  the  same  column,  and  on  various 
parts  of  the  walls  of  the  chapel  it  faced,  were  hung  cards,  appa> 


FOREIGN    TRAVEL.  89 

frently  much  used ;  and  at  the  top  of  which  were  printed  in 
Jarge  capitals  the  words  "l 'amende  honorable."  What  is 
ihis,  thought  I?  There  was  a  column  of  French,  and  one  of 
German : — the  same  in  suhstance.  f  translated  literally  a  few 
sentences,  as  many  as  I  could  write  on  a  card:  "Prostrated 
"  humbly  at  your  feet,  holy  Virgin,  mother  of  God,  oh,  Mary, 
"  we  ask  of  God  and  of  ^ou,  pardon  for  the  outrages  which 
*'  heresy  and  impiety  have  the  madness  to  commit  against  your 
*'  honour.  We  present  to  you  our  hearts  penetrated  with  the 
"  most  bitter  grief,  and  bewail  more  than  all,  the  irreverence, 
"  and  indifference,  of  which  we,  your  ovvn  children,  are  guilty 
"  towards  you."  Such  was,  perhaps  one-fourth  or  fifth  part  of 
a  prayer  in  constant  use,  in  the  cathedral  church  of  one  of  the 
principal  diocesses  of  France,  in  the  heart  of  the  most  civilized 
part  of  the  continent  of  Europe  !  It  is  extremely  remarkable 
to  observe  how  the  worship  of  the  Virgin  Mary,  has  increased 
during  the  present  era,  in  the  Papal  church  :  insomuch  that  she  is 
now  the  principal  object  of  their  adoration  throughout  the  world. 
Whatever  may  be  the  real  or  pretended  changes,  wrought  by 
the  force  of  circumstances  in  the  political  religion  of  Rome,  I 
think  any  calm  observer  must  confess,  that  as  a  spiritual  system 
it  is  more  corrupt  now  than  it  was  before  the  Reformation.  It 
teaches  less  of  the  plan  of  redemption,  and  more  that  is  incom- 
patible with  it ;  and  is  a  more  total  and  absolute  system  of  idol- 
atry to-day,  than  it  was  wlien  the  Council  of  Trent  met.  It  is 
in  this  light  that  it  lays  so  heavy  a  responsibility  upon  the  people 
of  God ;  and  calls  so  loudly  upon  them  for  a  great  and  united 
effort  to  rescue  the  millions  who  are  perishing  under  its  merciless 
grasp. 

The  view  from  the  top  of  this  church  is  very  fine.  I  did  not 
climb  to  the  summit  of  the  spire  ;  but  about  half  way  up  the 
terrible  ascent  the  towers  are  reduced  in  siae,  and  the  space  left 
forms  an  extensive  and  magnificent  promenade  at  an  elevation 
far  above  any  thing  else  in  the  city.  The  course  of  the  Rhine, 
and  the  rich  and  wide  valley  that  skirts  it  on  this  side,  lie 
stretched  out  far  towards  the  north  and  south.  On  the  eastern 
side  of  the  river,  the  Grand-Duchy  of  Baden—and  the  moun- 
9* 


90  MEMORANDA   OF 

tains  of  the  Black  Forest  are  in  full  view ;  while  towards  thfe 
west  the  Vosgian  mountains  shut  in  the  prospect.  Villages  and 
cultivated  fields  minorle  in  the  soft  landscape  ;  and  the  people  in 
the  crowded  streets  below  you,  move  about  like  puppets  in  a 
show.  Alas  !  how  hard  it  is  to  leach  our  hearts  that  the  earth 
and  all  it  holds,  are  most  lovely  when  we  see  them  a-far  off'; 
that  it  is  only  needful  for  us  to  mount  steadily  upwards,  to 
reduce  them  all  to  their  just  proportions,  and  exhibit  plainly  their 
real  littleness ! 

On  the  terrace  the  family  of  the  man  who  takes  care  of  the 
clock  of  the  Cathedral  resides;  and  his  apartments  seem  not 
only  comfortable,  but  extensive.  Every  place  where  a  name 
could  be  cut,  seemed  filled  with  those  of  persons  from  all  pans 
of  the  world :  and  at  all  such  places  records  are  kept,  for  the 
inscription  of  the  names  of  visitors.  The  repeated  occurrence 
of  this  form  at  all  the  hotels  on  the  Continent— where  the 
hosts  are  obliged  by  law  to  keep  a  register,  of  a  most  exact  kind, 
soon  accustoms  one  to  it  as  a  matter  of  course.  The  particu- 
larity of  Europeans,  especially  of  the  English,  in  making  known 
their  rank,  and  always  exacting  all  which  in  their  judgment  it 
entitles  them  to  expect — makes  these  lists,  often  very  amusing. 
The  same  cause  seems  to  have  created  embarrassment  to  Amer- 
icans—to know  what  to  say  of  their  condition.  I  perceived  a 
diversity  of  practice  amongst  my  countrymen,  in  all  cases  where 
I  had  opportunity  to  inspect  these  lists :  and  was  rather  surprised 
to  find  them  hesitating  a  moment  on  such  a  subject.  We  are 
citizens,  citizens  only,  all  citizens,  and  above  all,  the  only  citizens  : 
for  the  rest  of  mankind  are  subjects.  And  thus  I  insisted  on  all 
occasions  in  inscribing  myself— simply  citizen.  A  glorious  dis- 
tinction, which  if  any  choose  at  home  to  lay  aside,  for  Colonel, 
Esquire,  Doctor,  Reverend,^or  such  like;  let  us  at  least  by 
our  example  rebuke  a  servile  world  when  it  insists  on  knowing 
vjfhat  our  condition  is. 

There  is  another  thing  about  these  lists,  which  commands  the 
notice  of  Americans.  Whenever  they  are  of  such  a  voluntary 
kind  as  to  be  exposed  to  mutilation,  without  the  offender  subject- 
ing one  to  punishment ;  it  is  by  no  means  uncommon  to  find 


'FOREIGN  TRAVEL,  '91 

them  containing  extremely  bitter  and  insolent  attacks  upon 
individuals  and  states.  These  insults  are  almost  invariably 
appended  to  the  name  of  some  American,  and  without  excep- 
tion written  in  the  English  language.  Whether  it  is  most  prob- 
able that  Americans  thus  traduce  tliemselves ;  or  that  persons  of 
other  nations,  not  being  English,  use  that  tongue  to  do  it ;  or  that 
the  English,  unable  for  an  instant,  under  any  circumstances  to 
conceal  their  national  antipathies  and  manners,  are  the  real  au- 
thors of  such  pasquinades ;  needs,  I  presume,  little  skill  to  guess. 
On  one  of  the  lower  towers  of  the  Cathedral  is  constructed  a 
Telegraph,  which  is  the  beginning  of  the  series  on  this  frontier  of 
France.  We  had  very  often  on  our  route  from  Paris,  passed  other 
^stations,  which  communicating  with  each  other  from  one  eleva» 
tion  to  another  every  few  leagues, — are  enabled  to  transmit 
intelligence  with  astonishing  rapidity.  The  structure  is  very 
simple;  consisting  of  four  pieces  of  timber,  which  represent 
exactly  the  letter  T.  The  erect  stem,  serves  only  to  sustain  the 
other  three  timbers.  They  are  so  constructed  as  to  assume, 
under  the  control  of  puUies,  springs,  &c.  every  possible  shape, 
at  every  conceivable  angle,  both  with  the  horizon  and  the  zenith. 
A  language  is  constructed  out  of  these  signs ;  and  short  sentences, 
conveymg  the  essence  of  things,  speed  across  France  from  all 
directions  to  the  Capital,  with  the  rapidity  of  the  wind.  When 
ihe  late  Mill^naire  Rotchschild,  died  at  Frankfort  on  the  Mame, 
the  words  il  est  mort^ — he  is  dead^ — were  borne  by  telegraph,  to 
Calais,  and  thence  by  a  carrier  pigeon  to  London,  in  a  few  hours. 
Louis  Phillippe,  is  always  possessed  of  the  earliest  and  most 
accurate  information,  of  every  thing  tiiat  transpires  in  Europe. 
And  unless  his  government  is  foully  misrepresented,  it  not  only 
often  conceals  the  truth,  and  reports  what  is  false ;  but  even 
descends  to  the  fabrication  of  any  particular  thing  it  may  desire 
to  have  considered  true  at  any  certain  place ;  and  then  makes  the 
telegraph  send  up  a  rumor  that  the  thing  is  so  and  so.  It  is  thus 
that  they  are  able  to  distract  the  public  mind,  and  to  avail  them- 
selves of  contingencies  for  their  purposes,  during  the  time  necess- 
ary to  get  true  information.     It  is  believed  that  such  things  have 


9^  MEMORANDA  OF 

been  practised  to  a  great  extent,  during  all  the  present  troubles  in 
Spain,  in  relation  to  the  affairs  of  that  country. 

It  was  not  long  after  we  left  Strasbourg,  before  the  abortive 
attempt  of  young  Louis  Napoleon  to  revolutionise  France  and 
restore  the  imperial  dynasty,  exploded  in  that  city.  The  most 
remarkable  result  of  that  affair  perhaps,  was  the  acquittal  of  the 
principal  accomplices  of  young  Bonaparte.  For  reasons  of  state, 
he  had  himself  been  allowed  by  the  French  Government  to 
escape  punishment ;  and  had  been  sent  to  the  United  States. 
But  the  whole  force  of  the  government,  was  used  to  bring  his 
sjhief  advisers  to  punishment.  The  first  success  against  the 
government  was  the  determination  of  the  tribunals,  that  all  tl.te 
offenders,  even  the  military  officers,  must  be  tried  by  jury;  the 
second  was  the  acquittal  of  all  the  accused,  the  jury  refusing  to. 
punish  the  accessaries,  when  the  King  himself  had  withdrawn 
the  principal  from  justice.  So  that  an  armed,  yea  open  insurrec- 
tion, went  utterly  unpunished,  in  a  country  where  men  may 
commit  treason  even  in  their  thoughts  !^ — 

No  evangelical  Christian  or  lover  of  letters,  who  visits  Stras- 
bourg, can  forget  that  it  was  for  a  considerable  period  the  resi- 
dence of  Calvin  ;  whom  it  received  with  great  distinction  whcii 
he  was  driven  from  Geneva ;  and  whom,  it  most  reluctantly  gave 
back  again,  to  the  entreaties  of  liis  repentant  country.  To  the 
day  of  his  death,  the  great  Reformer  cherished  the  most  grate- 
ful and  loyal  feelings  to  this  beloved  city ;  and  history  contains 
few  monuments  of  the  kind,  so  affecting  and  instructive,  as  the 
proofs  of  the  mutual  friendship  and  confidence  of  this  great  and 
then  free  city,  and  the  august  man  it  had  received,  cherished  and 
jiurabered  amongst  its  sons  ! 


iFOREIGN    TRAV&I*.  93 


CHAPTER   X. 


Entrance  into  Germany— Grand  Duchy  of  Baden— Passports— The  Black  Forest- 
Appearance  of  the  People — Agriculture— Climate — Face  of  the  Country— Lan- 
guage—Religion—The  Grand  Duke  and  his  Family— Valley  of  the  Kinzig. 


After  spending  one  day  in  Strasbourg,  we  took  the  route 
towards  Constance.  The  Grand  Duchy  of  Baden,  occupies 
the  most  south-western  corner  of  Germany.  It  borders  on 
the  Rhine  for  a  great  distance,  stretchinor  from  the  lake  of  Con- 
stance, to  where  the  river  Necker  empties  itself,  not  far  from 
Manheini.  But  it  is  very  narrow :  the  Kingdom  of  Wurtem- 
burg  being,  as  it  were,  cut  out  of  the  body  of  it,  leaving  it 
only  two  long  strips,  which  meet  in  a  right  angle  opposite 
Basle ;  where  the  Rhine,  which  pureued  from  Constance  a  couFse 
nearly  west,  suddenly  turns  to  the  north ;  which  course  it  follows 
to  the  German  ocean.  Both  Wurtemburg  and  Baden,  originally 
appertained  to  ancient  Suevia  or  ScFiawbia ;  a  mountainous  and 
woody  region,  celebrated  from  an  early  period  for  its  inhospita- 
ble climate,  and  fierce  inhabitants. 

We  crossed  the  Rhine  at  Kehl,  about  a  league  from  Stras- 
bourg, on  an  admirable  bridge  of  boats  thrown  across  it  just 
below  a  considerable  ripple.  The  Rhine  is  here  wide  and  rapid, 
and  washes  one  of  the  finest  vallies  in  the  world.  Every  thing 
proved  that  we  were  passing  a  frontier.  Our  passporis  were 
inspected  by  the  military  at  each  end  of  the  bridge ;  and  again 
by  the  Badish  police,  after  driving  a  few  hundred  yards  further. 
The  red  and  blue  of  the  French  soldier,  gave  place  to  the^reen 


94  MEMORANDA    OF" 

and  gray  of  the  Radish;  and  even  the  dress  of  the  postiflioDf 
was  altered.  Throughout  Baden  you  are  driven  by  men  in 
bright  yellow  ;  with  two  immense  paiticolored  tassels  hanging  in 
the  middle  of  the  back ;  and  the  chord  to  which  they  belong, 
Ibrcing  a  short  crooked  brass  trumpet,  close  up  under  the  left 
arm,  with  its  wide  mouth  behind. 

The  passport  system  of  Europe,  seems  dictated  exclusively 
by  the  pusillanimity  of  kings ;  and  is  enforced  in  exact  propor- 
tion to  the  consciousness  they  seem  to  have  that  men  abhor 
them.  If  you  turn  your  face  towards  the  residence  of  any 
ruler,  all  occasions  are  taken,  and  often  made  to  examine  youi* 
passports.  But  you  may  pass  nearly  undisturbed  if  you  tura 
aside  from  their  dwelling  places.  From  Boulogne  to  Paris  we 
were  questioned  eight  or  nine  times :  from  Paris  to  Strasbourg, 
more  than  double  as  far,  not  once.  And  in  Baden,  as  soon  as 
the  police  understood  that  we  were  not  going  towards  Carlsruhe, 
but  in  the  opposite  direction,  our  passports  w^ere  folded  up  and 
civilly  returned — and  our  baggage  not  even  spoken  of.  At  the 
moment  we  were  thus  summarily  discharged,  there  was  a  family 
who  were  going  to  Carlsruhe,  undergoing  the  most  mortifying 
search  ;  their  trunks,  bags,  and  boxes  exposed  to  idle  gaze,  and 
their  apparel  and  little  minute  concerns  pried  into  by  great 
boobies  with  forests  of  beards,  and  broad  swords  heavy  enough  to 
cleave  a  trunk  at  a  blow.  On  another  occasion  near  the  borders 
of  Switzerland,  while  our  horses  were  changing  an  officer  who 
a  moment  before  allowed  us  to  pass  without  a  question  ;  stopped 
a  boy  fifteen  yeans  old,  who  was  travelling  on  fool,  and  exam- 
ined him  critically,,  before  he  would  permit  him  to  go  on  his 
solitary  way.  The  boy  was  going:  into,,  we  out  of  the  Grand 
Duchy. 

The  Black  Forest  which  formerly  covered  so  large  a  part  of 
Baden  and  Wurtemburg,  still  occupies  an  immense  space..  We 
had  proofs  of  its  proximity  before  entering  Germany.  For  as 
we  drove  out  of  Strasbourg  early  in  the  morning,  on  the  prin- 
cipal market  day,  plank  and  wood,  were,  next  to  cabbages,  the 
most  striking  objects  for  sale.  From  the  time  you  enter  Alsace,, 
th^  cabbages  begin  to  assume  a  more  and   more  conspicuous . 


FitSREIGN   TRAVEL.  95 

place  in  rural  economy;  until  you  presently  find  them  in  quan- 
tlties  and  of  dimensions  absolutely  portentous.  From  Slras-- 
Ijourg  to  Kehl,  and  for  several  leagues  after  passing  it,  the  roads 
were  in  a  degree  obstructed  by  wagons  loaded  with  wood  and 
plank,  moving  towards  the  first  named  place.  Every  thino; 
made  it  manifest  that  we  were  already  amongst  a  different 
people.  The  cap  of  the  Frenchman  and  the  slouched  hat  of 
the  Alsatian,  gradually  gave  way  to  the  wide  rimed,  high  topped, 
i)ell  crowned  hat,  to  which  the  German  every  where  seems 
wedded.  I  found  myself  again  in  a  land  of  knee  breeches — 
which  my  visit  to  the  mid-land  counties  of  England  had  made 
so  familiar  to  my  eyes.  Here  was  no  longer  the  graceful  hunting 
shirt  of  the  Frenchman ;  but  the  upper  garment  of  the  men 
resembled  more  than  anything  else,  an  ancient  shirt  of  mail, 
reaching  to  the  hip,  fitting  close,  and  widened  at  the  bottom, 
by  a  broad  hem  of  a  span's  width  cut  into  open  scollops.  The 
females,  instead  of  having  no  head-<lr^ss  but  a  handkerchief — 
seemed  to  abound  in  that  article.  The  hair  hung  down  the 
hack  in  two  or  three  plaits — or  v^^here  there  was  none,  ribbands 
supplied  the  place  ;  while  a  straw  or  willow  hat  with  a  wide 
white  rim,  and  small  black  crown,  surmounted  the  whole.  The 
very  form  of  the  people  is  as  different  as  their  dress :  and  of  the 
Jeniale  especially  this  difference  is  wonderful.  In  a  few  leagues, 
the  graceful  and  well  proportioned  women,  who  fill  all  France 
with  enthusiasm,  have  given  place  to  a  race  not  less  pleasing  in 
countenance,  but  whose  figures  are  apparently  of  the  very  same 
dimensions  l>om  top  to  toe.  The  increased  quantity  of  garments 
may  do  semething,  and  the  short  waists  of  all  of  them  more, 
to  produce  this  apj)earance.  But  there  is  surely  a  most  radical 
difference  in  the  people  themselves. 

The  culture,  as  well  as  the  people,  is  different.  Indian  corn 
Tint]  hemp  take  the  place  of  the  vine.  Milch  cows  were  to  be 
seen  yoked  to  the  plough  by  the  head,  instead  of  the  neck ;  and 
droves  of  cattle  aiid  hogs  roamed  in  the  il)rests  or  grazed  on  the 
hill-sides.  In  every  little  garden  was  a  stand  for  bees;  and 
hedges  every  where  skirted  the  road  side.  The  houses  remind  • 
ed  me,  at  every  step,  that  we  were  again  in  a  land  of  timber ; 


96  MEMORANDA  OF 

bein^  generally  constructed  of  frames  of  wood,  filled  in  with 
mortar,  and  very  often  having  shingle  roofs.  It  was  in  Baden 
that  1  saw  ibr  the  first  time  a  European  house  with  a  shingle  or 
boarded  roof.  The  climate  was  also  changed,  and  the  hay  har- 
vest, of  the  second  crop  I  suppose,  which  was  nearly  completed 
in  France,  was  only  fully  commenced  in  Baden :  while  in  the 
more  elevated  situations,  the  barley  crops  were  yet  uncut, 
though  the  first  month  of  autumn  was  above  two-thirds  spent : 
and  the  potato  crop,  which  is  universal  every  where,  was  yet  in 
bloom  here,  though  already  gathered  in  many  sections  through 
which  I  had  just  passed.  This  change  was,  however,  gradual 
— and  became  more  and  more  obvious  as  we  mounted  higher 
and  higher  into  the  mountains  which  ibrce  the  Rhine,  as  it  issues 
from  lake  Constance,  to  take  the  great  detour  to  the  westward, 
of  which  I  have  ak-eady  spoken,  before  it  can  find  its  way  to  the 
sea.  Indeed  for  a  few  leagues  after  crossing  the  Rhine,  the 
wide  plane  on  the  east,  greatly  resembles  that  on  the  west  side. 
As  you  diverge  from  it,  and  on  the  route  we  took,  gradually 
draw  into  the  narrower  valley  of  the  river  Kinzig,  vineyards 
still  cover  the  hills,  in  pleasant  exposures.  What  is  occasional 
in  the  vineyards  of  France,  is  universal  almost  in  ihose  of 
Baden  ;  in  all  of  which  you  see  a  small  solitary  hut,.for  the  use 
of  those  that  watch  them  at  the  vintage,  and  which  constantly 
reminded  me  by  their  appearance  of  extreme  loneliness,  of  the 
inspired  prophet's  description  of  the  coming  desolateness  of 
Israel — "  like  a  lodge  in  a  garden  of  cucumbers." 

The  language  of  the  people,  is  perhaps  more  remarkably  difler- 
ent  from  that  of  their  neighbours  beyond  the  Rhine,  than  any 
thing  I  have  hinted  at.  How  extremely  difl&cult  is  it  to  realize, 
that  a  month  ago  yes  was  yes,  and  no  was  no  ;  but  that  yester- 
day oui  was  yes,  and  pas  was  no  ;  while  to-day.  ja  is  yes,  and 
nein  is  no!  We  can't  realize  it;  we  don't.  For  I  have  inva- 
riably observed  that  when  people  speak  to  those  who  imperfectly 
understand  their  language,  they  speak  loud  and  distinctly ;  thus 
manifesting  an  instinctive  feeling,  that  the  others  ©ught  to  under- 
stand, but  would  if  they  heard  correctly.  At  any  rate  the 
diversity  of  human  speech  is  a  most  extraordinary  afiair»    It 


FOREIGN    TRAVEL.  97 

seems  to  me  perfectly  inexplicable  on  merely  philosophical  prin- 
ciples: and  I  am  sure  that  after  being;  thrown  in  a  condition 
nearly  helpless,  through  ignorance,  amongst  people  of  strange 
speech,  we  are  able  to  apprehend  in  a  higher  degree  the  abso- 
lute need  of  divme  power  to  confer  the  gift  of  tongues ;  and  the 
mighty  and  ail-but  appalling  influence,  which  must  have  attend- 
ed its  exercise.  I  may  be  perhaps  excused  too,  for  saying  in 
this  connexion,  that  the  good  of  the  world  would  probably  be 
greatly  promoted,  by  a  more  general  attempt  on  the  part  of 
educated  men,  to  obtain  an  acquaintance  with  living  languages. 
In  America  especially,  there  was  until  very  lately,  a  deplorable 
deficiency  in  this  respect.  Twenty  years  ago,  there  were  few 
institutions  of  learning  amongst  us  where  any  modern  language 
could  be  properly  acquired  ;  and  even  now  there  are  few,  if  any, 
of  much  repute  where  the  acquisition  of  such  a  knowledge 
tbrms  a  necessary  part  of  education.  I  believe  multitudes  of 
those  who  have  been  thus  neglected,  would  be  happy  to  exchange 
half  they  learnt  at  college,  for  the  ability  to  speak  French  or 
German. 

There  is  one  most  important  respect  in  which  portions  of  these 
two  neighbouring  countries  are  essentially  one.  Multitudes  in 
both  are  nominally  Catholics ;  and  you  find  proofs  that  many 
are  really  so,  as  you  pass  the  high  ways.  Scattered  thickly 
through  Baden,  as  well  as  France,  are  crosses,  in  the  fields,  on 
the  road  side,  in  the  gardens,  every  where.  It  is  a  solemn  sight 
— and  I  never  look  on  one  without  bewailing  that  the  wickedness 
of  man  should  make  it  an  instrument  both  of  superstition  and 
idolatry.  These  crosses  have  always  an  image  of  the  Saviour 
crucified,  upon  them;  and  these  are  of  all  sizes,  from  a  few 
inches  to  the  dimensions  of  a  full  grown  man ;  and  of  all  grades 
of  finish.  But  in  addition,  you  often  see,  especially  in  Baden, 
figures  of  various  parts  of  the  human  body;  a  foot,  two  feet,  a 
hand,  a  hand  and  foot^  two  legs,  and  so  on,  at  caprice,  nailed  to 
the  same  cross  on  which  is  an  image  of  the  Saviour.  At  other 
times  there  are  various  figures  of  tools, — carpenters'  tools 
especially,  hung  about  them.  And  an  invariable  affix  is  a  hole 
chiseled  into  the  body  of  the  cross,  to  receive  presents,  which 
,  Vol.  u.— 10 


98  MEMORANDA   OF 

are  removed  at  stated  periods  by  the  priests.  Besides  these 
crosses,  there  are  constantly  to  be  seen  images  of  the  Virgin 
Mary  and  of  various  saints,  of  all  sizes,  scattered  every  where ; 
but  particularly  on  the  sides  of  bridges,  in  the  fronts  of  taverns, 
and  over  the  gates  of  towns.  A  considerable  part,  however,  of 
the  Badish  people,  as  of  nearly  all  otlier  portions  of  the  Germanic 
race,  have  embraced  the  principles  of  the  Reformation. 

There  are  two  qualities  which  delighted  me  with  the  good 
people  of  the  Grand  Duchy.  I  never  saw  a  drunk  person  in 
Baden  ;  and  of  all  people,  they  are  the  most  poUte  and  respect- 
ful. If  you  meet  any  one  on  the  road,  from  a  child  of  six  to  an 
aged  man,  he  respectfully  takes  off  his  hat.  There  is  no  servil- 
ity about  it ;  they  do  it  to  each  other,  whenever  they  meet.  A 
civil  word,  a  respectful  salutation — a  look  of  grave  but  cordial 
kindness,  are  habitually  rendered  to  the  whole  world.  Would 
that  the  whole  world  would  take  pattern  by  them.  And  in  good 
truth  there  is  much  of  this  in  many  parts  of  Europe.  I  have 
had  a  Scotchman  walk  with  me  a  square  to  show  me  a  place  [ 
could  not  find,  out  of  mere  kindness  to  a  total  stranger :  and  I 
never  saw  a  Frenchman  tried,  who  would  not  quit  his  work,  to 
tell  you  any  thing  you  chose  to  ask  him  about.  But  try  a  man 
in  London.  The  first  you  meet.  What  did  he  say?  Try  the 
next.     Try  fifty.     It  is  useless :  you  will  never  try  another. 

There  is  a  very  great  mistake  in  the  world,  about  the  general 
sobriety  of  people  in  all  vine-growing  countries.  1  saw  more 
drunkenness  in  Paris  than  in  London,  in  proportion  to  the  time 
I  was  in  each  city.  Indeed  I  seldom  walked  an  hour  on  tirc 
Boulevarts,  that  I  did  not  see  some  one  intoxicated.  In  Baden  I 
had  an  excellent  opportunity  to  witness  the  habits  of  the  people 
under  pretty  strong  temptation.  For  the  same  day  we  left 
Strasbourg  to  go  towards  Constance,  the  Grand  Duke  Leopold 
and  his  family  passed  down  to  Carlsruhe.  We  met  him  and  his 
family  at  Biberach,  about  thirty  miles  from  the  Rhine.  When 
we  got  to  that  village,  every  thing  was  in  commotion  ;  and  as  all 
the  post  horses  were  put  in  requisition  by  his  avant  courier 
before  we  arrived,  we  had  no  aliernative,  but  to  await  his 
coming  and  lake  some  of  those  he  would  leave,  when  he  got  the 


FOREIGN   TRAVEL.  99 

fresh  ones.  I  rather  regretted  this.  There  are  people  enough 
in  the  world  who  are  ready  to  puff  up  the  great  by  adulation. 
It  is  good  there  should  be  a  few,  who  can  never  forget  that  all 
privileged  classes  and  orders,  are  the  curse  of  the  earth.  There 
are  a  plenty  who  deem  it  an  honour  to  be  admitted  into  their 
presence.  It  is  well  that  a  handful  be  allowed  to  pity  and  shun 
them.  He  came  by-and-by :  and  all  seemed  glad  to  see  him. 
A  large,  fair,  and  rather  handsome,  middle  aged  man,  riding 
with  his  children  in  a  plain  carriage;  preceded  by  another,  in 
which  were  three  females  and  a  man,  than  whom  few  courts 
could  boast  four  uglier  personages.  One  was  the  Grand 
Duchess,  of  whom  I  heard  from  the  people  of  the  country  that 
she  had  been  formerly  a  fille-de-chamber ;  and  read  in  the 
Jilminac  Royal  et  A'^ational,  of  Paris,  for  1836,  that  she  was  a 
descendant  of  Gustavus  Vasa.  The  latter  is  perhaps  true  in 
fact ;  the  former,  possibly  just,  as  a  criticism.  I  retraced  tiie 
route  this  party  had  just  travelled,  up  the  valley  of  Kinzig, 
as  far  as  Hochberg,  that  afternoon.  There  were  garlands  of 
tiowers  hanging  from  the  windows,  arches  of  evergreen  thrown 
across  the  streets  of  the  villages,  and  every  sort  of  demonstra- 
tion of  a  very  high  and  gratified  public  feeling.  But  not  one 
drunk  person  was  to  be  seen. 

We  had  passed  from  the  valley  of  the  Rhine  into  the  narrower 
one  of  the  Kinzig — and  had  ascended  it  until  it  had  narrowed, 
to  a  space  which  was  completely  occupied  by  the  town  of  Hoch- 
berg, with  its  high,  sharp,  wooden  houses.  There  can  hardly 
be  a  more  romantic  valley.  Bounded  and  hedged  in  by  moun- 
tains of  granite,  covered  with  timber,  where  not  covered  with 
the  products  of  man's  industry;  gradually  contracting  lor  the 
whole  fifty  miles  thai  separate  Hochberg  from  Kehl:  thickly 
inhabited  by  a  simple,  hardy,  and  kind-hearted  people,  who  have 
changed  but  little  for  many  generations,  who  have  every  neces- 
sary of  life,  and  who  seem  strangers  to  all  its  luxuries ;  there 
seemed  to  be  lacking  but  a  knowledge  of  the  truth  as  it  is  ia 
Jesus,  to  make  it  all  the  heart  could  wish.  And  fervently  did  I 
beseech  the  blessing  of  God  on  his  truth,  as  I  scattered  along 
this  lonely  valley,  and  the  lofty  region  into  which  it  leads  the 


100  MEMORANDA   OF 

traveller,  a  package  of  German  tracts  with  which  amongst 
others,  the  female  tract  distributors  of  my  congregation  had  sup- 
plied me  before  I  left  Baltimore ;  and  which  I  had  now  the  first, 
and  so  favourable  an  opportunity  to  use.  It  is  thus  that  tiie 
religion  of  Jesus  Christ  brings  the  ends  of  the  world  together ; 
and  these  young  Americans  may  meet  in  heaven,  who  shall  say 
liow  many  souls  from  that  sweet  valley,  upon  whom  the  setheria! 
spark  fell,  scattered  by  their  hands  ?  Grant,  Lord,  that  I  may 
behold  that  blissful  meeting,  in  the  world  of  light ! 


FOREIGN   TRAVEL.  101 


CHAPTER   XI 


Architectural  Ruins— Minute  Description  of  those  at  Hochberg— Mountains  of  the 
BiackForest—Sourcesof  the  Danube— Principality  of  Furstenburg— First  Glimpse 
of  the  lioden  See— Tlie  Schwartzwold. 


Those  striking  ruins,  which  every  where  skirt  the  Rhine,  are 
found  a)so  on  the  banks  of  the  Kinzig.  The'first  pronnontory  that 
jutted  out  into  the  valley,  was  covered  with  the  extensive  remains 
ofan  ancient  feudal  castle,  frovvninorupon  the  summit  of  the  clitis. 
What  apparent  trifles,  change  the  whole  destinies  of  generations! 
That  castle  in  its  day,  was  an  impregnable  fortress — whose  nar- 
row limits  might  have  defied  the  world  in  arms ;  and  from  which 
some  fierce  barbarian,  backed  by  a  few  scores  of  steel-clad  rob- 
bers, might  have  have  spread  terror  over  all  the  surrounding 
region.  To-day, — its  fiercest  lord  might  replace  it  in  its  prime ; 
and  a  sergeant  and  a  dozen  men,  with  one  mortar,  would  reduce 
it  to  ruins  in  three  days  ! 

A  few  leagues  farther  up  the  valley  we  passed  a  second  ruin- 
ed castle  ;  and  at  the  ancient  town  of  Hochberg  found  a  third. 
We  arrived  early  in  the  afternoon,  and  were  afforded  a  good 
opportunity  to  examine  it.  A  fine  looking  Badish  boy,  bare 
headed  and  bare  footed,  undertook  to  i)ilot  me  to  the  ruins  ;  for 
although  they  overhang  the  antique  village,  it  seemed  a  desper- 
ate attempt  to  scale  the  clift^  on  which  they  stand.  A  very  good 
road,  wide  enough  to  admit  a  carriage,  and  by  no  means  of  steep 
ascent,  left  the  outskirts  of  the  town  and  turning  the  end  of  the 
mountain,  wound  around  the  precipice  to  the  very  castle  yard. 
10* 


102  MEMORANDA   OF 

An  ascent  of  twenty  minutes,  brought  us  upon  the  summit ;  and 
we  stood  so  immediately  above  the  village,  that  it  seemed  as  \i 
1  could  leap  into  the  street.  The  mountain  top  was  of  very 
narrow  dimensions;  and  its  surface  Avas  divided  into  several 
compartments  of  unequal  extent,  by  four  great  ledges  of  the 
rock,  which  had  been  left  apparently  when  the  intervening 
spaces  were  cut  away  to  be  used  in  the  erection  of  the  towers. 
The  most  easterly  extremity  of  the  mountain  stood  in  its  original 
state.  Then  came  a  transverse  cut,  entirely  across  the  narrow 
summit  to  the  depth  of  twenty  feet  or  more.  Then  there  was  left, 
about  thirty  feet  of  the  primitive  rock,  which  was  excavated  so 
as  to  form  a  prison,  entered  by  a  small  doorway  and  lighted  by 
a  single  small  hole  cut  through  tlie  side,  pretty  liigh  up.  These 
were  all  to  the  right  of  the  main  court  yard  ;  which  was  itself, 
a  cut  about  forty  feet  square,  occupying  the  total  breadth  of  the 
top  of  the  mountain.  Then  came  on  the  left  hand  of  the  court, 
another  section  of  rock  through  which  a  vaulted  way  ci:t 
through  it  for  about  thirty  feet,  led  to  the  last  vacancy  ;  beyond 
v.'liich  stood  the  rock  in  its  native  state  at  the  western  extremity 
of  the  summit ;  and  upon  it  the  ruins  of  the  castle  itself.  This 
rock  is  ascended  by  a  stone  stair-way,  supported  on  a  wall  now 
in  a  decayed  state;  and  its  whole  surface,  which  is  about  forty 
feet  square,  was  once  covered  by  two  large  towers.  One  of  these 
is  still  standing,  in  a  state  of  pretty  good  preservation.  It 
occupies  about  half  the  space  on  the  top  of  the  rock:  and  is  a  plaia 
square  tower,  with  walls  about  six  feet  thick,  and  perhaps  thirty 
feet  high.  It  is  built  of  the  same  reddish  granite  which  compo- 
ses the  mountain  itself;  and  I  have  no  doubt  out  of  stone  ci:t 
from  the  top,  in  the  maimer  I  have  described.  There  is  a  low 
arched  door  way — facing  the  valley  towards  the  north;  and 
j'.nmediately  over  the  door,  at  a  considerable  height,  a  square 
window,  the  largest  of  several  in  the  tower;  and  obviously  so 
planned  as  to  give  those  in  the  tower  command  of  the  outer  ap- 
proach to  the  door ;  which  was  the  only  assailable  point.  There 
v/ere  around  the  interior  walls  projections  of  rocks,  and  inden- 
tations in  the  masonry,  at  succesive  bights ;  the  ibrmer  ap])arent!y 
used  to  sustain  some  conalruction  for  mounting  from  storv  tc  stop'  ; 


FOREIGN   TRAVEL.  103 

the  latter  perhaps  to  receive  the  ends  of  timbers,  that  s\]pported 
the  floors.  This  last  conjecture  seemed  confirmed  by  a  remain- 
Inar  square  of  decayed  wood  (the  only  wood  I  could  discover 
about  the  tower)  which  still  occupied  one  of  these  recesses.  I; 
was  a  piece  of  common  pine  tjf  the  country.  Tire  floor  was 
covered  deeply,  with  dirt  and  rubbish ;  and  1  was  unable  to 
discern  any  traces  of  excavation  in  or  about  the  rock,  on  which 
the  tower  stood.  On  the  outside  next  to  the  correspondino- 
tower,  now  destroyed — was  distinctly  visible  the  ancient  flue 
of  a  chimney,  for  about  two-thirds  of  the  height  of  the  tower, 
'Over  the  door  way  in  the  comparatively  new  stonework  whicli 
makes  the  arch  of  it,  are  cut  the  figures  1735 ;  the  date  no  doubt 
-of  the  latest  repairs.  In  the  prison  were  some  farming  utensils, 
and  above  it,  a  kind  of  rough  store  house ;  in  the  court  yard 
the  ruins  of  an  arbour  and  a  nine  pin  alley;  and  in  the  very  face 
of  the  precipice,  a  deserted  house  of  modern  construction  which 
seemed  designed  for  an  Inn.  Such  is  the  present  state  of  the 
ancient  Castle  of  Hochberg  in  the  Brlsgow,  which  for  centuries 
•gave  the  title  of  Marquis  to  one  branch  of  the  house  of  Baden  ; 
and  perhaps  for  centuries  before,  gave  renown  to  stif!  more 
ancient  barons. 

In  a  quarter  of  the  time  it  took  us  to  ascend,  our  little  guide 
led  us  down  the  face  of  the  cliff  by  a  zigzag  and  steep  but  safe 
path.  I  asked  him  in  the  best  German  I  was  master  of,  and  his 
own  was,  I  think,  of  the  poorest,  who  built  the  castle  ?— when  ? 
— for  what? — Who  destroyed  it? — when  and  why?  In  answer 
to  all  which  he  gave  me  as  much  information  as  any  one  else 
appears  to  possess,  which  is  just  none  at  all.  It  is  extremely 
curious,  that  every  country  in  the  world  should  be  filled  with 
iTiOnuments  of  a  previous  race,  not  only  extinct  but  fijrgotten. 
Who  made  the  astonishing  monuments  of  Eygpt?  By  whom 
end  when,  were  those  beautiful  remains  of  ancient  Italian  civi- 
lization v/hich  we  call  Etruscan,  perfected?  Who  built  Stone 
•Henge  in  England?  What  was  tl;e  origin  of  the  Irish  Round 
Towe.rs?  What  era  and  race,  gave  birth  to  the  antiquities  of 
Nonh  and  South  America  ?  Or  to  end  as  we  began,  who  first 
projected  those  monuments  and  -strong  holds,  whose  ruins  are 


1<H 


MEMaKANDA   OF 


scattered  over  Germany  ?  The  truth  is  we  know  almost  nothing' 
of  the  past ;  and  after  we  have  absttacted  what  is  trifling,  and 
rejected  what  is  false  from  the  merely  human  records  of  dead 
3^eSj-we  have  little  room  to  change  what  has  been  charged- 
against  all  his  kind,  by  a  great  though  sombre  spirit,  "they 
nothing  knew,  or  nothing  have  revealed." — There  is  one  clear 
far-descended,  bright  stream,  of  truth  and  knowledge  and  light 
and  wisdom,  winding  through  this  labyrinth,  and  shining  through 
this  darkness.  Walk  close  by  its  margin  and  you  may  see 
through  a  single  and  narrow  vista,  back  to  the  throne  of  God. 
Follow  its  sacred  guidance  ;  it  is  enough  for  us  here.  And  one 
of  the  sweetest  hopes  it  nourishes,  is,  that  in  the  depth  of  that 
futurity,  which  its  rays  only  can  penetrate — we  shall  know  ev^en 
as  we  are  known  ;  "  in  thy  light,  shall  we  see  light." 

From  Hochberg  to  the  Rhine  at  Schaif  hausen  is  about  as  far 
as  to  the  same  river  at  K^hl.  The  second  day's  travel  is  how- 
ever much  more  difficult  than  the  first,  for  there  is  not  perhaps 
a-  district  in  Germany  more  thickly  studded  with  mountains, 
than  that  of  which  I  now  speak.  The  lofty  chain,  called  Bel- 
sabeniech  in  its  own  neighbourhood,  occupies  the  whole  distance 
from  Hochberg  to  Villengen;  which  is  five  German,  or  twenty- 
jSve  English  miles.  The  ascent  is  so  long  and  so  steep,  .that  extra 
horses  are  kept  at  various  points  to  aid  the  traveller ;  and  the 
Bumber  of  them  required  by  loaded  wagons,  almost  exceeds 
belief.  We  encountered  them,  drawn  by  twelve,  fourteen,  and 
one  by  eighteen,  stout  horses.  At  the  southern  base  of  this 
lafty  district  gush  out  the  sources  of  the  Danube,  in  the  skirts 
of  the  Black  Forest.  From  Villingen,  an  ancient  walled  city,  to 
Donaneschingen — two  German  miles,  the  route  follows  one  of 
these  streams.  At  the  latter  place,  two  more  are  added  ;  and 
thenceforth,  this  mighty  river  assumes  the  name  which  it  bears 
through  so  many  regions  till  it  pours  its  distant  waters  far  away 
into  the  Black  Sea.  At  Donaneschingen,  is  a  palace  which 
looks  like  a  cotton  factory,  belonging  to  Prince  Fursteiiburg :  in 
the  extensive  and  beautiful  grounds  of  which,  on  either  side  of 
the  town,  rise  the  two  sources  of  the  Danube  just  mt^ntioned. 
It  was  with  no  ordinary  emotion  that  I  stood  upon  the 
margin  of  these  immense  fountains*    Ajid   as  L  bathed  in  tiir 


FOREIGN   TRAVEL.  105 

waters -of  the  Danube,  the  temples  that  had  heen  cooled  in  so 
inany  streams  that  compose  the  Mississippi ;  I  felt  that  I  had 
touched  the  two  exterior  edges  of  civilization.  I  was  penetra- 
ted with  an  indiscribable  sadness,  at  the  truth  now  made  so  fully 
manifest — that  there  remained  on  earth  amongst  the  nations, 
nothing  to  be  sought  better  tlian  that  I  had  already  witnessed. 
Here  lie  the  wide  limits  of  human  advancement.  We  find  not 
what  we  sigh  for,  within  them  ;  we  find  not  man  as  be  should  be, 
as  he  might  be ;  and  we  turn  with  sorrow  from  a  sea^-ch  fruiiless 
before,  thenceforward  hopeless.  We  may  stand  on  this  limit, 
and  look  forward  to  where  the  glory  of  earth  has  been,  but  is 
no  longer.  The  power  of  man  has  shifted  ; — it  too  is  behind  us. 
The  last  empires  of  the  east,  as  they  perished — shifted  the  scene 
upwards  towards  the  north  and  west.  The  Babylonian  was  in 
the  heart  of  the  east.  The  Persian  touclied  our  sphere.  The 
•Grecian  made  Europe  its  seat.  And  the  iron  Empire  of  Ronie, 
strengthened  in  its  rise  and  perfected  in  its  fall,  this  gigantic 
revolution.  The  cycle  of  Empires  is  finished.  They  have 
achieved  their  part ;  which  was  at  the  greatest,  only  subordi- 
nate to  the  progress  of  other  and  more  glorious  events.  The 
last  and  all  pervading  empire,  the  empire  of  Jesus  Christ  is  to 
come, — is  coming ; — and  it  must  be  set  up  every  where,  under  a 
condition  of  the  world,  which  prohibits  and  excludes  the  rise  of 
a  fifth  empire  like  either  of  those  which  have  jointly  operated  to 
place  the  nations  in  the  required  posture. — It  is  not,  then,  to  find, 
but  to  make  man  what  he  should  be.  All  things  are  at  last 
ready.     What  hinders  that  the  work  be  done  ? 

Between  Donanschingen  and  Scliaffhausen  in  the  ancient 
principality  of  Fiirstenberg  there  is  another,  and  almost  as  broad 
and  lofty  axihain  of  mountains,  as  that  already  mentioned;  the 
sides  of  which  are  covered  with  pine  forests  of  great  extent  and 
beauty.  The  great  height  to  which  trees  attain,  in  situations 
considerably  elevated,  must  have  struck  all  travellers,  Thiis 
ridge  which  divides  the  Rhine  from  the  Danube  on  the  south  as 
that  of  Belsabeniech  shuts  the  latter  in  on  the  north,  is  called 
ilaudenberg,  and  the  forest  Raudenwald.  The  intervening  val- 
Jey,  is  situated  at  right  ajigles  to  the  valley  of  Kinzig  up  which 


1 OG^  M>EM;aRANI>-A    OF 

we  haiJ  passed  the  day  i  efore ;  and  the  two  days  presented  us. 
with  as  nearly  opposite  aspects  as  could  be  imagined.  Yester^ 
day  we  traversed  for  fifty  miles,  an  unbroken  and  most  delightful 
vale.  To-day,  we  have  crossed  two  of  the  immense  ribs  of  Ger- 
many aad  find  ourselves  at  night  fall  once  more  on  the  Rhine, 
on  the  borders  of  Switzerland. — The  tops  of  both  these  ranges, 
present  extensive  and  rather  fertile  districts  of  pretty  well  cul- 
tivated country.  The  vine  disappears  entirely,  very  soon  after 
commencing  the  ascent  from  Hochberg,  and  is  not  seen  again, 
until  you  approach  the  Rhine.  Then  it  is  restored  in  more  thaa 
its  former  abundance,  a«d.of  dimensions  which  put  ta  shame  the. 
vineyards  of  France.  All  the  vineyards  on  the  upper  Rhine  look, 
far  more  like  plantations  of  hops,  than  like  the  vineyards  of  Cham- 
pagne; and  produce,  I  should  suppose,  three  or  four  times  as  much 
to  the  vine.  The  number  of  vines  to  the  acre,  however,  cannot 
be  above  half  so  great;  and  these  are  set  in  rows^  and  managed- 
with  a  culture  more^ orderly,  at  least  in  appearance. 

Tiie  scenery  in  the  midst  of  these  mountains  is  by  no  means 
striking:  less  so  than  in  any  region  of  equal  elevation  I  have 
qver  seen.  Indeed  the  region,  is  described  by  saying,,  that  tw(» 
enormous  swells  in-  the.  whole  surface  of  .the  country,  are  thrown 
across  the  south  of  .Germany,  rather  than  bycalling  it, a  mountain, 
district.  There>  is  one  view  of  great  beauty  and  extent,  on  the 
top  of  the  Rangen,  just  as  you  begin  the  soi^thern  descent.  Our 
postillion  had  stopped,  as  they  do  at  every  opportunity,  to  attach 
the  drag^  and  which  they  will  not  only  da  in  despite  of  all  re- 
monstrances, but  which  they  are,  I  found,  obliged  to  do  or  be 
responsible  for  all  consequences  ;  they  and  their  masters.  They 
answer  all  suggestions,  by  pointing  to  a  post,  opposite  one  of 
which  they  stop  short,  and  upon  which  are  directions  to  lock 
the  wheel,  there.  And  lest  any  one  should  pretend  ignorance, 
there  is  above  the  German  advertisement,  the  picture  of  a  wheel 
with  its  drag  attached.  For  the  hundreth  time  our  postillion 
st9pped  to  perform  this  office ;  and  after  doing  it  as  slowly  as 
suited  his  mood,  as  slowly  pointed  to  the  distant  horizon,  and 
uttered  the  words  Boden  See.  It  was  the  Lake  of  Constance,  in 
full  view,  at  the  distance  of  twelve  leagues.    A  moment  before  L 


FDHEIGN   TRATEL.  ^107 

was  weak  enough  to  be  impatient,  at  a  thing  so;  poor-as  the 
phlegm  of  a  Badish  boor.  A  single  instant,  rolled  back  like 
a  curtain,  four  hundred  years.  A  first  glimpse  of  that  renowned 
lake  sleeping  in  the  last  rays  of  day,  recalled  all  the  recollections 
which  made  it  an  object  of  such  profound  interest  to  me^  Huss, 
and  Jerome,  and  Segismund,  and  the  crowd  of  mighty  ^end  de- 
luded men,  who  handed  the  last  over  to  eternal  infamy,  and  the 
two  first  to  an  immortality  won  by  fire;  where  are  their  great 
spirits  now  !  By-and-by  1  shall  see  them  lace  to  face.  Now  I 
seek  the  spot,  consecrated  by  meek  and  heroic  suffering  on  one 
side,  and  on  the  other  by  perfidy  and  corruption,  to  which  there 
^re'  few  parallels. 

The  Black  Forest,  called  by  the  Germans  Schwartswald  and 
by  the  Romans  Silva  nigra, — of  which  I  have  had  occasion 
to  make  mention  several  times,  and  which  I  had  traversed  nearly 
a  hundred  miles;  was,  until  the  discovery  of  North  America, 
the  most  extensive  and  remarkable  forest,  of  which  the  civilized 
Tv^orid  had  any  knowledge.  No  natural  object  connected  with 
Germany,  occupies  so  large  a  space  in  her  whole  history,  especi- 
ally her  military  history ;  and  none  besides  has  had  a.  greater 
«hare  in  preserving  her  national  independence,  perpetuating  the 
freedom  of  her  chilldren,  and  giving  tone  to  all  her  institu- 
tions. Extending  originally  from  west  to  east,  from  above  the 
sources  of  the  Danube  almost  to  its  mouth  ;  it  skirted  the  great- 
est river  of  Europe,  for  above  a  thousand  miles,  embracing  in 
thatimmense  range  the  whole  breadth  of  Germany  and  Bohemia. 
In  the  days  of  Julius  Caesar,  its  width  from  north  to  south,  he 
states  in  his  Commentaries,  to  have  been,  nine  days'  journey; 
while  its  length,  having  been  explored  for  sixty  days'  journey,  in 
in  a  fruiteless  search  for  its  close,  wa&'sopposed  to  be  indefinite.— 
Such  a  region,  filled  with  lofty  and  ragged  mountains,  produc- 
tive of  the  most  useful  domeetic  animals,  and  traversed  rather 
than  inhabited,  by  hardy  and  warlike  nations;  must  needs  have 
afforded  an  indistructable  safeguard  to  nationality  and  freedom. 
"With  the  Alps  as  their  barrier,  and  the  Black  Forest  as  their 
abode,  the  wonder  is  not  that  Rome  made  so  little  impression 
on  the  Germanic  nations :  but  that>she  should  ever  have  attemp- 
ted to  make  any, 


10^ 


MEMORANDA.  &Y 


CHAPTER   XLI 


Entrance  into  Switzerland— Canton  and  City  of  Schaffhausen— NoUces  of  the 
Government— Manners— Habits— Dwellings— Language— Religion  and  Religious 
Services— Reflections— Curious  mode  of  collecting  Aims— Description  of  the  Cat- 
aract of  the  Rhine,  and  the  Surrounding  Scenery— John  Muller— Ride  up  the 
Rhine,  from  Schaffhausen  to  Constance. 


The  Canton  of  Schaffhausen  is  the  twelfth  in  mac^nitude  of 
the  twenty-two  which  compose  the  Swiss  Confederation.  It  is 
situated  on  the  right  bank  of  the  Rhine,  which  washes  its  south- 
ern shore;  and  belongs  more  naturally  to  Germany  than  to 
Helvetia.  On  all  its  other  sides  it  is  shut  up  by  the  Black  For- 
est. Its  surface  is  extremely  limited,  and  its  entire  population 
less  than  thirty-five  thousand  souls.  The  culture  of  the  vine  is 
the  principal  employment  of  the  people.  The  whole  population 
are  of  the  Reformed  religion  ;  znd  the  government  is  as  com- 
pletely democratieal  as  is  consistent  witli  the  notion  of  represen- 
tation. The  Canton  is  distributed  into  twenty-four  tribes;  and 
a  Council  of  one  person  from  each  tribe,  exercises  the  executive 
power  of  the  little  state  ;  while  a  Grand  Council  of  seventy-four 
persons,  is  invested  with  the  real  sovereignty. 

The  city  of  Schaffhausen  is  on  the  Rhine,  in  latitude  forty- 
seven  and  a  half.  It  contains  seven  thousand  persons,  and  is 
walled,  and  defended  by  a  strong  but  small  fort.  The  streets 
are  extremely  irregular ;  running  up  and  down,  of  breadths  con- 
stantly varying,  and  on  courses  that  shift  every  few  hundred 
feet     Like  those  of  most  European  towns,  they  are  pretty  well 


FOREIGN    TRAVEL.  109 

pavied  with  stones ;  but  like  the  rest,  have  no  side  walks.  They 
are  ornamented  with  fountains  at  their  intersections  ;  which  are 
garnished  by  figures  of  the  ancient  Swiss,  in  their  national  cos- 
tumes standing  on  high  pillars  in  the  middle  of  the  fountains  r, 
one  figure  to  each  fountain.  The  houses  are  built  of  stone,  or 
plastered  on  the  outside.  They  are  four  or  five  stories  high ; 
the  first  and  second  of  which  are  in  general  very  low.  Many  of 
them  are  covered  on  the  outside  with  allegorical  figures  as  large 
as  life  ;  others  with  historical  paintings,  mixed  with  portraits  of 
destinguished  men.  All  the  more  ancient  ones  have  a  name, 
written  in  large  German  letters,  over  the  main  entrance ;  and 
not  uncommonly,  mottoes  and  short  sentences,  of  various  kinds, 
in  various  languages.  The  two  houses  opposite  my  window,  in 
the  hotel  called  *  the  Falcon  of  Gold  ' — near  the  Schwabenthor 
or  Suabian  gate,  are  named  '  the  litde  grapes  ' — and  '  the  great 
contest.'  The  latter  is  covered  with  all  sorts  of  paintings,  and 
mottoes,  in  Latin,  German,  and  Italian.  Upon  many  houses, 
these  inscriptions  breathe  a  spirit  of  great  piety ;  and  many  of 
the  names  are  less  fantastic,  though  most  are  curious  enough. 

There  is  in  the  place  a  college,  in  which  are  nine  professors, 
who  teach  theology,  physics,  philosophy,  mathematics,  history, 
and  the  ancient  languages.  The  cabinets  of  the  town  are  said, 
to  be  rather  good  ;  and  the  libraries  select,  and  rich  in  manu- 
scripts ;  especially  that  belonging  to  the  city,  which  comprehends 
the  one  gathered  and  used  by  the  historian  Mliller. 

We  spent  a  Sabbath  day  in  Sohaff hausen ;  and  I  can  truly\ 
say  I  never  spent  a  Sabbath  in  any  place,  where  the  outward  ' 
observance  of  it  was  so  universal  and  respectful.  Silent,  solemn, 
and  grave ;  the  whole  people  seemed  to  give  up  all  worldly  cares 
and  employments,  and  devote  the  day  to  the  service  and  enjoy- 
ment of  God.  Ah !  thought  I,  the  world  need  not  be  surprised 
that  a  little  handful  of  men  have  dwelt  in  the  midst  of  tyrants 
and  slaves,  able  to  vindicate  their  national  independence.  They 
love  liberty,  and  they  serve  God ;  two  facts  which  solve  all  the 
phenomena  of  their  remarkable  history. 

We  went  at  noon  to  the  cathedral,  an  ancient  building,  to 
attend  on  the  public  worship  of  God.    The  people  speak  exclu- 

VOL.   11.— 11 


110  MEMORANDA   OF 

sively  the  German  language,  in  which  tlie  services  were  con- 
ducted. As  we  approached  the  door,  we  observed  that  each 
person  stopped  for  a  moment,  and  looked  at  a  large  printed  card 
which  hung  beside  it.  I  found  it  to  be  an  alphabetical  list  of  the 
first  lines  of  the  German  metrical  version  of  the  psalms ;  and  a 
large  metal  pointer  was  stuck  in  a  hole  opposite  the  one,  with 
the  singing  of  which  the  public  worship  commenced. 

The  church  was  a  low  and  ill  looking  building,  but  of  great 
compass  ;  and  was  pretty  soon  filled  with  people.  The  females 
sat  by  themselves,  in  the  centre  of  the  room ;  all  destitute  of 
bonnets,  but  wearing  a  tight  black  cap,  and  nearly  all  dressed  in 
black  dresses  with  very  short  waists.  The  males,  occupied 
other  places ;  but  all  stood.  The  services  commenced  by  sing- 
ing—then a  short  service  of  prayer,  read  by  the  minister,  but 
without  responses  from  the  people,  and  during  which  all  retained 
the  postures  they  had  assumed  when  they  entered  the  church. 
Then  followed  the  reading  of  a  portion  of  Scripture ;  and  after- 
wards an  earnest  and  apparently  most  acceptable  exposition  of 
a  few  verses.  The  preacher  was  a  youthful  looking  man,  and 
spoke  freely,  without  notes,  but  in  the  grave  manner  of  the 
Germans.  I  understood  him  too  imperfectly  to  express  an 
opinion  of  his  effort.  During  the  time  he  spoke,  the  males  all 
sat ;  to  do  which  they  had  to  let  down  the  seats,  which  turned 
on  hinges,  and  made  a  sudden  and  loud  noise,  as  the  seals  for 
six  or  eight  hundred  persons  creaked  at  once.  They  made  this 
change  at  the  instant  he  commenced  his  sermon,  until  which 
time  they  had  stood  upright.  And  the  moment  he  completed 
his  discourse  they  simultaneously  rose,  replaced  the  seats  against 
the  backs  of  the  pews,  and  stood  till  the  services  ended ; — which 
they  did,  by  a  form  of  prayer,  as  at  the  commencement,  and 
the  singing  of  a  psalm,  announced  by  a  clerk.  There  was  no 
instrumental  music  of  any  kind  ;  and  the  whole  service,  though 
unique,  struck  me  as  simple  and  not  inappropriate.  It  was  one 
of  those  lessons,  of  which  many  Christians  profit  so  little ;  and 
of  which,  all  who  will  enjoy  that  great  part  of  the  communion 
of  saints  to  be  found  in  worshipping  in  their  various  assemblies, 
will  find  BO  many ; — not  to  be  bigoted  in  our  attachment  to  our 


FOREIGN    TRAVEL,  IH 

own  forms;  not  to  make  important,  those  things  so  insignifis' 
cant  that  all  differ  about  them  ;  not,  in  short,  to  consider  forms, 
as  of  the  slightest  moment,  when  put  in  comparison  with  the 
substance  of  things. 

The  seats  seemed  to  be  appropriated  by  one  or  two,  to  a 
family  ;  and  the  proprietor  was  indicated  by  a  card,  or  a  metal 
plate,  nailed  to  the  back  of  the  seat  immediately  in  front. — 
These  plates  contained  the  name,  or  coat  of  arms  of  the  owner 
of  the  seat,  with  the  date  of  occupancy  by  the  family;  to  which 
was  added,  on  some,  a  short  Scripture  phrase.  The  seat  I 
occupied,  had  in  front  of  it  a  plain  armorial  bearing  on  a  copper 
plate,  with  the  date  1671  on  it.  To  my  left  hand  the  seat  was 
marked  with  1800,  and  a  name  written  on  a  card.  On  my  right 
1727  was  marked  at  the  foot  of  a  coat  of  arms.  It  was  impos- 
sible  that  any  thing  could  contrast  more  strongly  than  these 
things  did,  with  the  condition  in  which  we  find  them  amongst  us. 
I  sat  in  a  spot  consecrated  for  a  hundred  and  sixty-five  years,  to 
the  religious  instruction  of  the  same  family,  through  successive 
generations  of  parents  and  children '.  Doubtless  there  were 
others  in  the  same  room,  bearing  date  above  a  century  farther 
back.  In  the  greater  part  of  America — especially  in  that  part 
of  it  with  which  I  am  most  familiar — it  is  rather  uncommon  to 
find  a  man  residing  where  his  father  was  born  ;  extremely  rare 
for  three  or  four  generations  to  have  been  dwellers  in  the  same 
spot,  worshippers  successively  in  the  same  house  of  prayer.  I 
shall  never  forget  the  sensations  with  which,  in  my  youth  I  heard 
a  man  say  he  was  born  in  the  same  house  in  which  his  father 
and  grandfather  were  born.  And  though  there  is  and  should  be 
a  sense  of  reverence,  to  the  dwellers  in  such  scenes  ;  yet  1  find 
it  often  necessary  to  guard  myself  on  such  occasions  from  a 
feeling  of  disdain.  Have  you  done  no  more,  in  so  many  ages.'' 
I  am  ready  to  demand.  Come  and  see  what  we  have  done,  in 
the  compass  of  one  hfe-time.  Our  fathers  were  your  neighbours ; 
come  and  behold  what  they  have  accomplished,  and  anticipate 
if  you  can,  what  we  shall  have  become  after  a  thousand  years 
of  progression !  Alas !  who  can  read  the  dark  volume  of  futu-^ 
rity?    Who  can  forbid  the  wave  to  obliterate  the  writipg  Qij 


112  MEMORANDA    OF 

the  sand?  This  at  least  our  RepubUc  can  do  ;  it  can  bless  the 
earth  while  our  day  of  glory  lasts,  and  wring  from  all  future 
ages  tears  of  wo,  that  it  ever  ceased.  This  we  have  already 
done  :  we  have  ravished  the  whole  world  with  the  love  of  free- 
dom, and  shown  them  that  virtue  added  to  courage  is  alone 
needful  to  win  it;  a  noble  moderation  only,  indispensable  to 
retain  it!  And  without  virtue  and  courage  and  moderation, 
what  boots  it,  whether  nations  be  bond  or  free  ? 

As  we  went  to  the  church,  sounds  very  like  the  rattle  of 
a  watchman,  attracted  our  attention ;  and  as  we  turned  a 
corner,  there  stood  before  us  an  old  man  with  an  instrument  in 
his  right  hand  with  which  he  made  this  noise,  under  the  windows 
of  the  principal  houses,  to  attract  notice  ;  and  in  his  left,  his  hat, 
ready  to  receive  the  charity  cast  into  it.  None  refused  him ; 
he  received  their  gifts  kindly,  but  not  like  a  common  beggar ; 
and  was  only  the  more  industrious  as  he  met  the  more  success. 
As  we  returned  from  church,  we  took  a  different  street,  and 
there  saw  the  old  man  again,  as  busily  at  work  as  ever,  and  with 
the  same  apparent  success.  I  found  on  enquiry,  that  he  was  a 
sort  of  beggar  for  the  public ;  and  this  weekly  collection  made 
on  Sunday,  lor  the  sick  poor  in  the  hospital.  It  seemed  to  me  a 
strange  substitute  for  the  Sabbath  collections  so  universal  in 
other  Christian  churches.  But  really  the  object  is  better  than 
many ;  and  after  all,  it  might  be  hard  to  say,  that  what  is  laid 
by  on  this  blessed  day,  by  the  Apostle's  direction,  might  not  as 
well  be  put  into  a  hat  at  our  window,  as  into  a  plate  at  the 
church  door,  which  they  prefer  in  England  ;  or  into  any  one  of 
the  divers  instruments  with  which  persons  are  waited  on  in 
their  pews,  in  America. 

It  was  not  my  intention  to  have  visited  Schaff  hausen  at  all : 
but  going  directly  to  Constance,  to  have  entered  Switzerland 
from  the  eastern,  rather  than  the  northern  frontier.  Finding  it 
impossible  to  get  to  Constance  before  the  Sabbath  day,  our 
party  all  preferred  to  turn  aside  and  spend  it  at  Schaff  hausen, 
rather  than  in  one  of  the  villages  of  Baden.  Schaff  hausen  is, 
however,  a  place  of  great  resort  for  travellers,  who  flock  to  see 
the  falls  of  the  Rhine,  in  its  immediate  neighbourhood.    On 


FOREIGN   TRAVEL.  113 

Monday  mominor  at  sun  rise,  we  were  in  a  carriage ;  and 
crossing  the  low  bridge  at  Schaff  hausen,  and  mounting  slowly 
the  southern  bank  of  the  Rhine — found  ourselves,  after  an  hour's 
ride  through  vineyards  loaded  with  grapes  nearly  ready  for  the 
vintage,  on  the  cliff  that  overlooks  this  renowned  water-fall. — It 
is  the  most  considerable  cataract  of  Europe  ;  but  in  comparison 
with  the  falls  even  of  the  Passaic  and  Mohawk,  inclines  one  to 
smile  at  the  extravagance  with  which  its  magnitude  is  spoken 
and  written  about.  A  score  of  such  would  not  make  the  north- 
ern chute  of  the  Niagara.  Tt  is,  however,  a  very  lovely  sight ; 
and  we  were  fortunate  in  a  bright  morning  to  visit  it. 

Opposite  Schaff  hausen,  the  Rhine  is  about  as  wide  as  the  Alle- 
ghany at  Pittsburgh.  It  is  already  in  rapid  motion,  and  there 
is  an  increasing  declivity  in  its  bed,  and  an  accelerated  motion 
in  its  water  until  the  fall  is  accomplished.  The  actual  cataract 
occurs  about  a  league  below  the  town ;  in  which  distance  the 
river  makes  several  sharp  turns.  One  of  these  is  a  few  hundred 
feet  above  the  fall ;  another  precisely  on  the  line  of  the  cataract, 
which  occurs  at  a  sharp  elbow  of  the  stream.  You  approach 
at  the  interior  side  of  the  curve;  and  are  conducted  into  and 
through  the  Chateau  of  Langen,  to  the  brink  of  the  precipice, 
upon  which  the  Chateau  stands.  Your  first  distinct  view  of  the 
fall  exhibits  it  almost  at  your  feet. 

Exactly  opposite  Langen  is  Neuhausen  ;  and  the  line  of  the 
fall  unites  the  two  places.  The  greatest  volume  of  water,  is 
on  the  southern  side;  and  steps,  and  platforms,  against  the  clifT, 
give  you  every  desired  view  of  the  raging  element ;  conducting 
you  near  the  foot  of  the  rock,  into  the  very  edge  of  the  thundering 
torrent.  The  water  is  divided  in  its  fall  by  five  elevated  rocks 
of  a  conical  shape,  which  add  to  its  turbulence,  and  increase 
greatly  the  wildness  of  the  scene.  The  height  of  the  fall  is 
represented  to  be  between  fifty  and  sixty  feet.  I  should  suppose 
the  representation  was  false,  by  one-third  at  least.  Indeed, 
there  is  no  one  actual  pitch  of  the  water,  that  aj^eared  to  me, 
half  of  the  estimated  height.  It  is  rather  the  rushing  of  an 
immense  volume  of  water,  through  a  steep  and  very  crooked 
channel ;  than  a  single  piteh.    Its  effect  is  very  grand.    And 


114  MEMORANDA    OF 

nothing  could  be  more  beautiful  than  the  bright  bow,  which 
hung  over  the  foaming  torrent,  varying  its  shape  and  posture 
as  you  varied  your  point  and  vision;  seeming  when  viewed 
from  above  to  be  almost  vertical  to  the  horizon,  and  gradually 
reclining  as  you  descend,  till  when  seen  from  the  lowest  and 
nearest  point  to  the  cataract,  it  contracts  itself  around  you,  in  a 
bright  and  perfect  curve— near  enough  to  beguile  you  to  reach 
after  it.    It  is  a  very  lovely  spot. 

But  the  ride  itself  would  be  enough,  even  without  the  sight 
of  the  falls.  Tlie  view  of  SchafFhausen,  as  you  return,  is 
extremely  beautiful.  Seated  in  a  valley  at  the  very  bottom  of 
an  amphitheatre  of  hills,  clothed  with  the  freshest  verdure ; 
its  tall,  thin  houses,  cluster  together,  as  if  they  would  soil  as 
little  as  possible  of  the  rich  margin,  which  nature  and  industry 
have  drawn  so  closely  around  them.  An  hour  before,  the  rays 
of  the  morning  sun  sloping  upon  the  fog  which  marked  the 
windings  of  the  river,  revealed  its  crooked  channel  more  and 
more  distinctly,  as  we  mounted  higher  and  higher  upon  the 
hills.  This  sight  is  familiar  to  all  who  have  been,  in  autumn, 
upon  any  of  the  streams  of  America,  which  pass  through  moun- 
tainous districts.  It  is  especially  on  James'  river,  and  the  upper 
Ohio,  that  I  have  witnessed  the  rich  exhibition.  If  we  dare 
imitate  the  mythology  of  the  refined  Greeks,  we  might  say  it  is 
the  river  Nymph  putting  off  the  robes  which  the  night  drew 
over  her  bosom,  that  she  may  greet  with  renewed  joy  the 
return  of  day.  And  earth,  and  sky,  have  few  vestments,  of 
more  exquisite  texture,  lightness,  and  beauty ;  none  surely,  that 
are  put  aside  with  more  gentleness  and  grace.  How  does  my 
memory  cling  to  the  solemn  andjofty  features  of  the  dear  relative, 
who  first  directed  my  eyes  from  his  own  mountain,  to  this  beau- 
tiful phenomenon  !  How  sensibly,  after  the  lapse  of  years,  and 
the  stroke  of  death,  do  I  still  feel  his  broad  palm  laid  on  my 
young  head  ;  and  the  distant  vallies  of  the  Blue  Ridge,  pointed 
out  and  named  over,  by  their  rich  vesture,  like  that  I  gaze  on 
now  hanging  over  the  vallies  of  the  Rhine  ! 

Schoffhausen  was  the  native  place  of  John  MUller,  the  illus- 
trious historian  of  Switzerland,  and  one  of  the  best  Germaa 


FOREIGN   TRAVEL.  115 

prose  writers;  called,  indeed,  the  Tacitus  of  German  Literature. 
It  is  known,  however,  that  he  passed  the  greater  pa-rt  of  his  life 
out  of  his  native  country ;  and  in  the  service  successively,  of 
various  foreign  states.  He  was  created,  if  we  remember  rightly, 
a  baron  by  the  Emperor  of  Austria  ;  and  at  the  period  of  his 
death,  was  in  the  service  of  Jerome  Buonaparte,  then  King  of 
Westphalia.  Ranking  as  he  does  with  the  first  class  of  historians, 
it  is  interesting  to  hear  his  sententious  and  sometimes  disdainful 
characteristics  of  his  most  renowned  predecessors.  "  All  the 
ancients,"  says  he,  in  some  fragments  o^  his  correspondence 
which  have  been  published,  "  were  by  no  means  equally  excel- 
lent. Csesar  writes  like  an  Emperor,  and  is  my  favourite 
author:  so,  however,  is  Tacitus,  though  often  a  little  too  prodi- 
gal of  reflections;  and  Sallust,  who  has  compressed  the  most 
])rofound  truths,  under  the  most  energetic  stile.  As  for  Mister 
Titus  Livy,  he  is  far  too  difFusCj  courtly  and  credulous  ;  though 
it  must  be  confessed,  much  less  so  than  his  grace  and  his  excel- 
lency, Mister  Burgomaster  Plutarch,  whose  prolixity  and  cre- 
dulity, pass  all  bounds." 

We  left  Schaffhausen  the  same  morning  for  Constance,  which 
is  nine  leagues  above,  on  the  opposite  bank  of  the  Rhine ;  where 
it  emerges  from  the  Boden  see,  or  lake  of  Constance. — The 
day  was  one  of  the  loveliest  of  autumn.  Our  course  lay 
generally  along  the  river's  brink  ;  sometimes  in  the  edge  of  the 
water,  with  high  banks  upon  the  right,  receding  and  rising 
gradually  back.  The  clear  and  rapid  stream,  skirted  on  both 
sides  by  a  succession  of  fertile  vallies,  and  gentle  slopes  in  per- 
fect cultivation;  interspersed  with  a  cliff  now  and  then,  crowned 
with  an  old  castle,  or  more  frequently  with  a  modern  chateau  ; 
and  the  distance  occasionally  throwing  up  a  lofty  hill  on  the 
verge  of  the  horizon  ;  furnishes  what  should  be  called  a  prolonged 
promenade  through  villages,  and  amongst  vineyards,  and  along 
avenues  of  fruit  trees;  rather  than  a  day's  journey  along  its 
banks.  About  half  way  between  Schaffhausen  and  Constance, 
the  stream  widens  to  thrice  its  usual  breadth ;  and  gradually 
expands  itself  into  a  considerable  lake,  called  the  Unter  See ; 
which  is  divided  by  a  broad  peninsula  caused  by  the  long  pro- 


116  MEMORANDA    OF 

jection  of  lake  Constance  ;  which  pushes  itself  several  ieao^ues 
to  the  north-west  of  the  city  itself.  Before  the  lake  is  reached, 
the  river  contracts  itself  again,  and  is  quite  narrow  at  the  city 
itself.  So  much  so  that  the  Austrian  army  which  entered 
Switzerland  in  1799,  selected  the  village  of  Paradise,  at  the 
very  gate  of  Constance,  as  one  of  the  two  points  at  which  the 
passage  of  the  Rhine  could  be  most  easily  accomplished.  The 
village  of  Stein  at  the  other  end  of  the  Unter  See,  on  the  Baden 
side  of  the  Rhine,  was  selected  as  the  other. 

Amongst  the  various  objects  of  attraction,  few  will  pass  with- 
out a  look  of  interest,  the  Chateau  of  Arenenberg,  the  residence 
of  Hortense,  daughter  of  the  Empress  Josephine  by  her  first 
husband,  and  now  divorced  from  Louis  Buonaparte.  A  smaller 
number,  perhaps,  will  stop  to  survey  the  spot  near  the  village  of 
Paradise,  where  the  heroic  peasants  of  Thurgovie  and  Swabia, 
who,  so  early  as  the  year  992,  rose  against  the  ceaseless  and 
hereditary  oppressors  of  mankind,  were  cut  to  pieces.  Their 
blood,  like  the  dragon's  teeth  that  produced  a  harvest  of  armed 
men,  has  not  ceased  lor  nine  centuries  to  nourish  liberty  on  the 
soil  that  drank  it  up. 

As  the  road  approaches  Constance,  the  valley  widens,  the 
rows  of  immense  pear  trees  thicken  into  orchards  laden  with  fruit 
— the  villages  sink  lower  upon  the  horizon  which  expands  itself 
before  your  advancing  steps ;  until  you  turn  the  angle  of  the  hill 
which  skirts  Ermatlingen,  and  find  the  plane,  the  city,  and  the 
lake  of  Constance  spread  out  before  you.  A  drive  of  twenty 
minutes  over  a  plain  which  seems  to  have  been  in  some  former 
day  reclaimed  from  the  water,  and  which  is  now  covered  with 
fruit  trees,  brings  you  again  within  the  territory  of  the  Grand 
Duke  of  Baden.  The  words  "  Grosshertzogthum  Baden  " — 
point  the  limits  which  divide  the  Canton  of  Thurgovie  from 
the  Grand  Duchy,  to  which  the  city  and  suburbs  appertain. — 
In  five  minutes,  you  are  over  the  ditch,  and  stopped  in  the  wide 
gate-way,  to  be  questioned  and  have  your  affairs  examined. 
For  two  days,  we  had  been  amongst  freemen;  and  had  seen  no 
soldiers— heard  nothing  about  police,  and  began  to  feel  like 
being  at  home.     I  was  glad  the  Grand  Duke's  people  could 


FOREIGN   TRAVEL.  117 

make  neither  head  nor  tail  of  my  passport.  They  attempted  in 
vain  to  decipher  it ;  in  vain  to  determine  what  language  English 
was ;  and  not  less  vainly  to  find  some  vise  that  would  suit  their 
taste,  in  those  of  the  embassies  of  nearly  every  state  in  Europe, 
which  to  avoid  trouble  and  delay,  I  had  got  attached  to  it  in 
Paris.  At  length  abandoning  the  passport,  they  demanded  in 
German,  who,  what,  and  whence  we  were?  I  spoke  horrible 
German — they  no  French.  1  pointed  to  the  passport,  insisting 
that  it  was  their  affair  to  find  out  its  meaning.  They  at  length 
reduced  the  whole  to  one  question :  "  Is  he  a  merchant  or  a 
gentleman  ?"  "  A  gentleman,"  said  the  courier.  "  Vorwarts," 
was  the  response ;  and  we  entered  Constance  by  guess. 


118  MEMORANDA    OF 


CHAPTER  XIIL 


Constance— Hall  of  tlie  Council  of  1414— Collection  of  Relics,  Idols,  Arms,  Ac- 
Anecdote— Ruined  Convents — Martyrdom  of  John  Huss  and  Jerome  of  Prague- 
Spirit  of  the  Council— Early  Efforts  at  Reformation— Multitudes  wh«  attended  on 
the  Council  of  Constance— Desolate  Condition  of  the  City — Beauty  of  the  natural 
objects  around  it — First  Sight  of  the  Alps — Cathedral — Column  of  the  Virgin 
Mary. 


The  City  of  Constance  is  within'the  territory  which  naturally 
appertains  to  Switzerland  ;  but  it  has  always  been  considered  a 
German  city.  It  is  a  strongly  fortified  and  very  ancient  place  ; 
though  of  narrow  dimensions  and  inhabited  by  few  people. — 
The  place  with  its  suburbs  and  dependencies,  cannot  compute 
in  all,  above  five  thousand  souls  ;  and  instead  of  being  of  such 
importance  as  its  past  history  might  lead  us  to  imagine,  it  is  one 
of  the  least  important  of  the  cities  of  Germany  of  its  own  rank. 
Indeed,  it  has  been  gradually  sinking  for  many  years,  and  the 
day  may  come  when  the  traveller  will  seek  it  in  vain. 

There  are  neither  stores,  nor  shops,  except  for  the  sale  of 
the  most  common  and  indispensable  articles,  in  the  place.  I 
tried  in  vain  to  purchase  a  few  sheets  of  writing  paper  or  a 
blank  book ;  though  I  was  offered  a  cart  load  of  popish  manu- 
scripts ;  and  idols  of  the  primeval  Celts,  of  the  ancient  Romans, 
and  of  the  papists ;  all  found  on  the  shores  of  the  Lake.  How 
Strongly  did  they  paint  the  successive  stages  of  the  idolatry, 
which  for  ages  that  cannot  be  counted,  has  possessed  these  beau- 
tiful shores.  And  how  thoroughly  do  these  relics  exhibit,  the 
rise  and  decline  of  knowledge !  There  is  a  certain  grace  and 
dignity  about  every  thing  the  Romans  attempted ;  and  even 


FOREIGN   TRAVEL.  119 

in  their  objects  and  instruments  of  a  false  worship,  there  is  out- 
wardly that  which  exhibits  high  cultivation  of  the  arts,  and  an 
extraordinary  sense  of  the  fitness  of  things.  This  is  the  more 
strilfing,  as  it  is  true  only  of  the  idolatry  of  the  Romans  and 
Greeks :  in  the  instruments  of  which,  we  find  so  much  beauty 
and  such  infinite  polish.  The  very  reverse  is  true  of  ail  other 
idolaters  without  exception.  The  gods  of  the  heathen,  are  not 
more  disgusting,  than  the  demi-gods  of  the  papists.  The  figures 
of  the  Celtic  worship  have  hardly  as  much  beauty  as  those  of 
papal  invocation ;  and  they  both  recede  at  measureless  distances, 
from  the  era  which  stands  between  them.  These  hung  in  rows 
and  sat  in  ranks,  the  remnants  of  those  widely  separated  ages.  I 
could  not  resist  the  internal  question,  why  is  it  worse  to  worship 
that  beautiful  figure  of  Jupiter,  than  this  miserable  one  of  Mary  t 
Why  should  not  the  Celt  bow  down  and  invoke  the  being  rep- 
resented by  the  face  of  that  hideous  dog,  for  it  seems  no  more  ; 
as  properly,  as  the  Papist  invokes  the  spirit  of  that  object,  whom 
they  are  skinning  as  if  he  were  a  hog,  and  who  seems  to  have 
been  worshipped,  only  hecause  he  was  skinned  ? 

These,  and  a  prodigious  number  of  relics  of  a  long  course  of 
ages,  are  exhibited  in  the  Hall  where  the  Council  of  Constance 
sat.  The  house  is  situated  near  the  only  wharf  in  the  town, 
hard  by  the  lake ;  and  is  washed  on  the  rear  by  a  wide  canal 
that  cuts  of  a  small  island  from  the  shore,  at  thai  place.  It  is  a 
very  large  stone  house,  of  five  stories,  two  of  which  are  in  the 
roof;  and  is  built  in  the  plainest  possible  way.  The  Hall  itself 
in  which  the  Council  sat,  occupies  the  whole  of  the  second  floot 
of  the  building.  Its  dimensions  are  two  hundred  and  sixteen 
German  feet  long,  and  one  hundred  broad.  The  height  seems 
to  be  about  twenty-two  or  three  feet.  Windows  of  a  wide  and 
rather  low  construction,  occupy  both  sides  and  ends  of  the  Hall. 
The  floor  of  the  story  above,  is  supported  by  two  rows  of  square 
wooden  pillars,  which  divide  the  Council  Hall  lengthwise,  into 
three  aisles ;  of  which  the  central  one  is  about  as  large  as  both 
the  others.  Upon  these  pillars  are  placed  inscriptions  indicating 
the  dates  at  which  various  princes,  whose  names  are  given, 
visited  the  HalU    The  list  is  extensive ;  the  names,  however, 


120  MEMOEANDA  OF 

being  chiefly  German.  In  one  corner  of  the  large  Hall,  a  room  of 
rather  narrow  dimensions  has  been  cut  off;  in  which  all  the 
objects  of  curiosity,  of  a  moveable  kind,  have  been  collected. 
The  great  Hall  was  arranged  when  I  saw  it,  to  accommodate 
a  portion  of  the  traders  who  had  visited  the  great  fair  of  Con- 
stance, then  drawing  to  a  close  ;  and  was  full  of  stalls  and  coun- 
ters, some  empty,  some  occupied  by  persons  who  trafficed  in 
cloths.  Better  traffic,  this,  than  "  in  the  souls  and  bodies  of 
men;"  as  once  was  done  in  the  same  place. 

The  Frenchman,  who  keeps  the  magazine  of  curiosities,  well 
deserves  a  visit.  For  though  his  principal  objects  of  exhibition 
in  his  own  judgment  consist  of  some  miserable  wax  figures — 
some  chairs  on  which  he  says  Pope  Martin  V.  and  the  Emperor 
Segismond  sat  at  the  Council,  and  such  hke  trumpery;  yet 
there  are  many  other,  and  far  more  interesting  objects,  all  of 
which  belong  to  the  city,  and  are  shewn  for  its  benefit,  at  a 
franc  a  head.  There  is  a  good  collection  of  ancient  arms  ;  and 
he  who  will  examine  them,  will  find  no  instrument  of  blood  like 
the  three  pronged  dagger  of  the  Inquisition,  which  makes  one  of 
the  list.  There  is  also  a  collection  of  idols,  saints,  &c.,  carved 
and  painted,  which  is  quite  extensive,  and  of  which  I  have 
before  spoken.  The  box  used  by  the  Council  in  the  election  of 
a  new  pope,  after  setting  aside  the  three  then  reigning,  is  a  very 
curiously  carved,  high  roofed,  oblong  casket,  shaped  like  the 
traps  used  by  boys  to  catch  rats.  It  is  divided  crosswise  into 
five  compartments;  over  which  the  names  of  England,  France, 
Spain,  Germany,  and  Italy  are  written.  With  one  or  other  of 
these  ruling  states,  those  deputies  might  be  numbered,  who  were 
selected  by  the  Council  to  vote  with  the  Cardinals,  in  the  elec- 
tion of  a  pope ;  of  whom  four  for  each  nation  represented, 
Avere  appointed.  At  the  name  of  each  nation  on  the  lid  of  the 
box,  is  a  hole,  large  enough  to  admit  a  quill ;  through  which  the 
ballots,  being  rolled  up,  were  thrust  into  their  respective  apart- 
ments. What  hopes,  what  fears,  what  machinations,  what 
intrigues,  were  blasted  or  consummated  at  the  final  opening  of 
this  fearful  casket! — The  civilized  world,  by  their  representa- 
tives, were  voting  not  only  for  their  Universal  Sovereign,  but 


FOREIGN    TRAVEL.  121 

for  the  direct  and  all  powerful  representative  of  God  himself! — 
the  destiny  of  earth  was  in  suspense,  till  this  seal  was  broken  : 
the  Spirit  of  God  would  indicate  infallibly  his  almighty  will,  only 
through  these  five  holes;  and  when  the  scrutiny  of  these  little 
receptacles  of  twisted  papers  was  complete,  cursings  and  death 
and  the  eternal  flames,  awaited  every  soul  thai  dared  to  murmur 
against  the  irresistible  fiat.  What  a  leveller  is  time  !  The  box 
is  not  worth  a  guinea  ;  and  yet  with  a  guinea,  you  shall  effect 
more  with  nine-tenths  of  the  human  race,  than  with  all  tlie 
names  of  all  the  men  v/ho  composed  the  illustrious  Council  of 
Constance  !  You  shall  poll  the  human  race,  and,  omitting  Papists 
— ninety-nine  out  of  every  hundred,  will  say  that  they  decreed 
the  foulest  lies  against  God  and  virtue  ;  and  were  not  only  cruel 
murderers,  but  bathed  their  hands  in  the  blood  of  the  best  men 
of  their  times! — Yet  most  of  the  Papal  world,  still  asserts  that 
this  was  a  holy,  oecumenical,  and  infallible  Council;  and  that  its 
decrees  are  entitled  to  the  same  credit,  reverence,  and  implicit 
obedience,  as  if  God  himself  had  spoken  them  ;  while  ever  that 
portion  of  the  Catholic  church  which  dissents  from  this  belief, 
that  is  the  ultra  montaine  party  in  Italy  and  the  Jesuits  every 
where ;  receive  the  Council,  with  the  exception  of  the  decrees 
of  the  fourth  and  fifth  sessions. —placing  a  general  Council 
a  bore  the  Pope, 

A  curious  incident  occurred  between  the  little  Frenchman, 
who  I  have  said,  keeps  the  collection  for  the  benefit  of  the  good 
people  of  Constance,  and  myself;  which  is  worth  relating,  as  it 
exhibits  a  very  common  feeling  amongst  the  middle  and  lower 
•classes  of  the  population  of  continental  Europe,  towards  our 
•country.  When  we  were  about  to  leave  his  little  magazine,  he 
■desired  me  to  inscribe  in  a  book  kept  fijr  that  use,  the  names  of 
our  party,  I  had  a  disabled  hand,  at  the  moment ;  and  directed 
our  courier  to  comply  with  the  request.  The  Frenchman  took 
fire  at  the  supposed  indignity  to  him,  his  book,  and  employers — 
and  insisted  that  I  must  write  the  names  myself.  "  No  one,"  he 
asserted,  "  was  ever  permitted  to  decline ;  it  was  a  most  posi- 
tive law  of  the  city ;  nay,  if  monsieur  (meaning  me)  were  a 
king,  or  the  Pope  himself,  he  must  nevertheless  write  his  own 
Vol.  u.— 12 


122  MEMORANDA    OF 

name." — Amused  at  the  fervour  of  the  little  showman,  and 
having  a  mind  to  test  it  a  little  ;  I  calmly  replied,  "  I  am  above 
all  kiniTs,  nay,  above  the  Pope  also."  He  looked  at  me  with 
profound  astonishment,  perhaps  supposing  me  deranged.  I  pro- 
ceeded :  "  Yes,  for  I  am  a  citizen  of  the  greatest  republic  upon 
earth  !" — In  a  moment  his  features  relaxed  ;  he  pressed  both  his 
hands  upon  his  breast,  and  making  a  low  reverence,  solemnly 
replied — "  c''e3t  vrai,  c^est  vraif'  it  is  true,  it  is  true  ! 

Amongst  the  objects  shown,  were  the  door  and  grate  of  the 
prison  of  John  Huss ;  which  had  been  brought  from  the  Fran- 
ciscan Convent,  where  he  was  confined  before  he  was  sent  to 
Gottlieben.  1  went  to  the  Convent.  It  is  now  occupied  as  a 
manufactory  of  cotton  cloth.  Tiie  place  where  the  prison  waSj 
is  the  dye  house  of  the  establishment ;  and  the  cell  in  which  he 
was  incarcerated,  has  been  thrown  out  into  the  yard,  in  the 
process  of  some  modern  improvements,  to  give  air  and  light  to 
the  interior.  The  large  church  of  the  Convent  is  now  used  as 
a  stable,  cow  house,  and  repository  for  straw  and  rubbish.  The 
chapels  around  it,  are  stalls;  and  I  saw  hundreds  of  yards  of 
cotton  hanging  to  dry,  in  the  choir.  The  cloisters  are  pretty 
well  preserved,  except  the  allegorical  paintings  on  the  inner 
walls ;  which  the  master  of  the  factory  had  obliterated  Hy  a 
scraper,  because  they  attracted  the  attention  of  the  boys  in  his 
employment,  as  they  passed  them  going  and  returning,  about 
their  work.  What  an  i.^.sue  !  They  who  once  despised  the 
acute  and  learned  Jerome,  arc  despised  in  turn  on  the  very  spot, 
by  a  mixer  of  dyes!  They  who  conspired  against  knowledge 
and  goodness,  lest  they  should  engage  and  corrupt  the  world  ; 
have  their  favourite  employments  made  the  scorn  of  boors, 
because  they  amuse  the  children  of  their  shops! 

I  returned  through  the  Convent  of  the  Jesuits  ;  it  is  now  used 
as  a  school.  I  passed  the  Convent  of  Dominicans  ;  it  is  vacant 
and  shut  up — its  last  use  having  been  as  a  barracks  and  maga- 
zine for  military  stores.  I  was  carried  to  the  spot  where  once 
stood  the  church  of  St.  Paul — in  whose  dungeons  Jerome  of 
Prague  was  confined,  until  his  health  gave  way,  under  his  severe 
suffering:  and  he  was  removed  to  the  tower  of  Gottlieben,  about 


FOREIGN    TRAVEL.  123 

a  league  off,  on  the  Rhine.  The  rear  of  the  church  is  supplant- 
ed by  a  handsome  private  dwelling  ;  what  was  the  main  entrance 
is  the  rear  of  the  yard  opening  against  the  ramparts  ;  and  now 
admits  you  into  a  coach  house  and  suit  of  offices.  The  place 
ivhere  Huss  and  Jerome  were  burnt,  is  out  side  of  the  city, 
beyond  the  ditch ;  and  about  mid-way  between  the  routes 
issuing  from  the  southern  and  western  gates  ;  both  of  which  are 
in  full  view  from  it.  The  place  is  still  called  Die  Briihle  ;  and  is 
separated  only  by  a  road,  from  another  spot  called  Paradise. 
The  exact  spot  where  these  early  reformers  were  burned,  is  not 
perhaps  known.  But  our  guide,  stopping  in  the  midst  of  a 
meadow  planted  with  apple  and  pear  trees,  said  that  tradition 
declared  the  stake  to  have  been  about  where  he  stood — or 
within  a  few  yards  thereof. 

It  is  impossible  to  describe  the  feelings  with  which  every  one 
who  admires  true  excellence,  and  is  capable  of  being  impressed 
by  real  greatness,  must  be  agitated,  in  the  midst  of  these  objects. 
It  was  not  only  the  cruel  and  unjust  death  inflicted  upon  two 
heroic  men  ;  although  those  men  were  blameless  in  their  lives — - 
learned  beyond  their  day — laborious  in  every  good  work — and 
martyrs  to  the  cause  of  reason  and  religion.  It  was  not  only 
that  they  met  their  dreadful  sufferings,  and  still  more  dreadfu 
trials,  with  a  meekness,  courage,  and  devotedness,  inspired  by 
more  than  human  motives,  and  sustained  by  more  than  human 
strength.  On  the  other  hand,  it  was  not  only  that  the  whole 
world  was  guilty  of  this  act,  and  sunk  into  the  brutality  which 
eould  deem  it  inspired  by  God ;  for  if  ever  a  General  Council  really 
met,  this  was  one,  in  the  most  ample  sense — representing  every 
Catholic  state,  and  supported  by  the  presence  or  representatives 
of  the  principal  temporal  and  spiritual  authorities  of  the  world. 
Nor  was  it  alone,  that  the  enlightened  men  of  that  age  from  all 
countries — John  Gerson  of  Paris — Poggio  of  Florence — iEneus 
Silvius,  afterwards  Pius  II.,  &c.  &c.,  concurred  in  the  diabolical 
acts,  and  sanctioned  the  horrid  definitions  of  this  Assembly.  It 
is  humiliating  indeed,  to  reflect,  that  the  great  and  cultivated 
spirits  of  that  age  should  not  have  relented,  over  the  gentle  and 
refined  Jerome ;  nor  fallen  in  love  with  the  modest,  candid,  and 


124  MEMORANDA    OF 

upright  spirit  of  Huss.  That  they  should  not  have  blushed  at 
the  thought  of  dishonouring  the  dust  of  John  Wiclif,  whom, 
if  they  deemed  him  heretic,  they  knew  to  have  been  both 
virtuous  and  learned.  Above  all,  that  they  should  not  have 
revolted  with  horror  at  the  idea  of  compelling  the  Emperor 
Segismond  to  violate  the  safe  conduct  freely  given  to  Huss  ;  and 
on  the  faith  of  which  he  had  come  to  Constance.  That  they 
should  have  concurred  with  ferocious  bigots  in  defining  it  as  a 
rule  of  morals,  that  faith  need  not  be  kept  with  those  whom  the 
Papal  church  deems  to  be  destitute  of  faith ;  and  that  in  such 
cases  perjury  consists  not  in  breaking,  but  in  keeping  oaths ! 

Sad  as  these  considerations  make  the  subject,  there  are  others 
that  give  it  a  more  melancholy  interest.  We  speak  habitually 
of  "  the  Reformation ;"  and  we  speak  correctly  if  we  mean  to 
indicate,  merely  that  the  attempt  to  which  we  allude,  was  bless- 
ed with  more  success  than  any  similar  one.  But  they  who 
look  closely  at  the  past,  know  that  in  every  age  of  tJie  great 
western  apostacy,  there  has  been  a  constant  opposition  to  its 
dominion,  and  testifying  against  its  fatal  heresies.  The  church 
oi'  Rome  herself  enumerates  not  less  than  fifty  schisms.  And 
though  she  might  quadruple  the  number  of  what  she  woulii 
call  schisms,  she  has  named  in  her  existing  list,  amongst  some 
real  corruptions,  many  bright  testimonies  to  the  truth  as  it  is  in> 
Jesus.  Indeed  one  of  the  best  evidences  of  truth,  is,  to  prove 
that  Rome  has  cursed  a  doctrine,  from  the  seventh  century  to 
the  present  period. 

This  is  not  the  place  to  show  that  these  lines  of  witnesses  had 
any  connexion  with  each  other.  Wiclif  was  undoubtedly  the 
disciple  of  the  martyrs  of  Languedoc  and  Provence ;  as  Huss 
and  Jerome,  were  just  as  surely  bis.  The  VValdenses  had 
perished :  how,  need  not  now  be  said. — The  great  schism  of 
the  West,  during  which  for  half  a  century,  two  or  three  popes 
ruled  at  once,  all  claiming  to  be  the  real  and  only  vicegerent  of 
God ;  had  allowed  the  truth  to  vegetate  again  in  the  secret  places 
of  the  earth.  The  spiritual  rulers  of  the  world  were  too  much 
occupied  with  making  and  unmaking  popes  and  cardinals  and 
bishops,  and  corrupting  and  seducing  their  mutual  partizans ;  to 


FOREIGN    TRAVEL.  125 

care  for  the  "^  little  flock "  of  Jesus  Christ.  In  such  a  time 
sprung  up  these  martyrs.  And  while  the  Council  of  Constance 
liealed  the  schism,  which  had  so  plainly  proved  the  falsehood  of 
all  the  pretensions  of  Rome,  and  so  completely  broken  up  in 
ages  of  confusion,  all  pretexts  of  an  apostolical  succession ;  it 
struck  at  the  same  instant,  with  its  mailed  hand,  the  church  of 
Christ  to  the  earth,  by  its  false  definitions  and  its  bloody  acts. 
The  election  of  Martin  V.  healed  the  schism.  The  sacrifice  of 
Huss  and  Jerome,  was  the  first  scene  in  a  tragedy  which,  after 
lighting  the  flames  of  civil  and  religious  war  over  all  Europe, 
and  deluging  the  eastern  half  of  it  with  blood  for  nearly  a  quarter 
of  a  century ;  closed  by  the  total  suppression,  by  fire  and  sword, 
of  this  great  effort  for  freedom  and  religion.  Sacred  names  of 
Ziska  and  Procopius  Rasa  ;  how  grudgingly  have  those  who  love 
God  and  liberty  rewarded  your  glorious  deeds? 

These  great  and  distinct  attempts  to  reform  the  world,  have 
been  made  against  the  church  of  Rome,  by  diflerent  races,  speak- 
ing languages  radically  dissimilar,  inhabiting  difierent  countries, 
and  widely  separated  by  the  lapse  of  time.  The  first  by  the 
nations  in  the  south  of  Europe  speaking  the  Romanesque  lan- 
guages :  the  second  by  the  Sclavonic  race  in  the  east  of  Europe  : 
tlie  third  by  the  Tutonic  race,  in  its  centre.  The  third  we  now 
rejoice  in ;  the  first  we  melt  over  at  the  well  known  and  oft 
repeated  tale  of  wo ;  the  second,  more  extensive  and  better 
sustained  than  the  first,  not  less  real  though  less  successful  than 
the  third,  w^e  have  forgotten.  The  history  of  the  great  Sclavonic 
attempt  at  reformation  is  yet  to  be  written. 

The  Council  of  Constance,  it  is  to  be  remembered,  was  rather 
a  Congress  of  the  civilized  world,  than  a  mere  ecclesiastical 
Assembly  ;  and  while  the  exalted  rank  of  many  of  the  persons 
who  assisted  at  its  sessions  gave  a  most  memorable  consequence 
to  its  proceedings;  the  multitudes  who  composed  their  retinues 
or  flocked  after  them,  almost  exceed  belief.  Various  lists  of 
ihe  principal  personages,  wiih  the  number  and  quality  of  their 
attendants  have  been  preserved,  of  which  the  substance  or  copi- 
ous extracts  of  three  at  least  are  given  by  Lenfant,  in  his  History 
of  this  Council.  Amongst  others  in  attendance  there  were  30 
12* 


126 


MEMORANDA  OF 


cardinals,  20  archbishops,  150  bishops,  100  abbots,  14  auditors  c?r 
the  Rota,  18  secretaries  of  the  Pope,  140  writers  of  apestotical 
bulls,  273  attornies,  150  priors,  generals  of  orders,  &c.,  and  200 
doctors ;  these  being  all  of  the  ecclesiastical  state.  Of  civil 
persons,  besides  the  Emperor  Segismond  who  gave  himself  up 
wholly  to  the  affairs  of  the  Council,  there  were  present,  all  the 
electors  or  deputies  from  those  absent,  many  sovereign  princes, 
besides  margraves,  burgraves,  counts  and  barons,  and  independ- 
ent gentlemen  beyond  computation  ;  almost  every  kingdom, 
republic,  state,  city  and  community  in  Europe,  being  repre- 
sented by  its  respective  ambassadors.  There  are  set  down  as 
having  congregated  at  Constance  also,  2,300  knights,  18,000 
inferior  persons  of  the  ecclesiastical  profession,  and  no  less  than 
80,000  laymen  who  were  strangers.  All  these  were  exclusive  of 
the  retinues  of  the  great ;  as  for  example,  of  the  80  persons  who 
composed  the  household  of  Cardinal  de  Viviers,  the  40  persons 
who  followed  Cardinal  Alba,  the  352  persons  with  John  of  Nassau 
Archbishop  of  Metz,  the  360  followers  of  the  archbishop  of 
Saltsbourg,  and  so  in  proportion  of  all  the  households  of  the 
great  personages  in  attendance;  the  Emperor  alone  having 
1000  persons  in  his  suit.  To  all  these  are  added  many  other 
lists,  also  independent  and  additional;  composed  of  persons 
of  more  humble  condition,  and  sometimes  of  very  equivocal 
employments.  As  samples  merely  of  these,  we  cite  75  confec- 
tioners, 300  fruiterers  of  whom  83  provided  only  wines  of  Italy^ 
346  jugglers  or  merryandrews,  505  fiddlers; — to  all  of  which  one 
list  adds  700  courtezans,  while  another  asserts  that  no  less  thai? 
1500  of  ihem  were  drawn  to  Constance  by  the  meeting  of  the 
Council  there.  If  these  things  be  so,  we  may  readily  belie\^e 
many  of  the  various  facts  thai  have  been  preserved,  as  illustra- 
tions of  the  condition  and  morals  of  this  vast  and  motley  gather- 
ing ;  one  of  the  most  expressive  of  which  is,  that  above  600' 
persons  were  drowned  by  night  in  the  lake  of  Constance  during 
the  sessions  of  the  Council. 

There  was  once  a  city  devoted  to  ruin ;  and  its  streets  sown 
with  salt,  to  mark  its  abiding  desolation.  Constance  seems  to 
be  hastening  to  a  fate  more  insignificant.  Nothing  can  be  more 
striking  than  its  present  aspect  of  abandonment,  compared  witb 


FOREIGN   TRAVEL.  127 

its  former  consequence,  and  the  great  events  of  which  it  was  the 
theatre.  Its  cathedral  stands  in  forsaken  solitude,  without  a 
worshipper  to  bow  before  its  shrines.  In  all  Europe,  I  saw  not 
one  empty,  but  it.  Its  convents  are  converted  to  the  commonest 
uses  or  shut  up.  Its  Council  Hall  is  made  a  mart  for  Jews  and 
pedlars  to  huxter  their  wares  in,  and  even  they  are  unable  to 
command  any  attention.  The  usual  autumnal  fair  which  ought 
to  last  fifteen  days,  and  which  was  attended  by  dealers  from  all 
the  neighbouring  stales  ;  languished  through  eight  days,  and  on 
the  tenth  day  of  it,  the  city  was  abandoned  and  the  long  rows 
of  booths,  empty  and  forsaken,  filled  the  streets  only  with  proofs 
of  its  desolateness.  Strangest  of  all,  the  disciples  of  the  very 
martyrs  it  burned,  preach  iheir  doctrines  publicly,  in  sight  of 
their  funeral  pile,  and  in  hearing  of  their  prison.  Yet  the  people 
of  the  place  are  said  still  to  hate  the  truth  with  a  hereditary 
bitterness.  And  although  in  the  dominions  of  the  Grand  Duke 
of  Baden,  who  is  a  Protestant,  there  is  a  certain  degree  of  reli- 
gious liberty  enjoyed  ;  these  people  became  so  much  enraged  at 
a  missionary  sent  to  them  from  Switzerland  two  years  ago,  that 
they  ran  upon  him,  and  smote  him,  and  cast  him  out  of  their 
city! 

Amid  all  other  changes  nature  alone  stands  unchangeably 
beautiful ;  and  there  can  be  few  spots  from  which  she  greets 
the  eye  with  a  wider  or  more  delightful  prospect,  than  from  the 
rowers  of  the  cathedral  of  Constance.  Here,  as  at  Strasbourg, 
the  keeper  of  the  clock  who  is  also  bell-man,  lives  on  the  top  of 
the  tower.  A  few  words  on  the  door  desired  you  to  ring  a  bell ; 
and  in  a  moment  a  reel  on  the  top  let  down  a  key.  I  entered 
and  ascended  by  a  narrow  and  dangerous  wooden  stair  way. 
From  the  summit  portions  of  the  Grand  Duchy  of  Baden — of 
the  kingdoms  of  Wurtemburg,  and  Bavaria — of  the  empire  of 
Austria,  and  as  much  of  Switzerland  as  the  eye  could  take  in, 
were  destinctly  visible.  The  greater  part  of  the  lake,  and  many 
leagues  of  the  valley  of  the  Rhine,  complete  the  vast  and  delicious 
scene.  From  this  spot  I  beheld  for  the  first  time,  the  everlasting 
Alps.  And  although  the  very  nearest  to  me  was  perhaps  fifty 
miles  off,  and  the  most  remote,  in  the  Tyrol,  the  Grisons,  and 


128  MEMORANDA    OF 

the  Valteline,  thrice  that  distance,  the  first  sight  of  them  made 
me  start,  by  their  stupendous  magnitude.  I  had  repeatedly  seen 
the  principal  mountains  of  America  ;  but  we  have  nothing  that 
gives  one  the  least  idea  of  what  a  mountain  fourteen  or  fifteen 
thousand  feet  high,  of  which  above  eight  thousand  are  covered 
with  eternal  snowSj  looks  like,  or  is. 

Before  I  left  the  cathedral,  I  walked  about  it  once  more  in 
perfect  solitude ;  without  beholding  a  single  vestage  af  life,  or 
any  evidence  that  it  was  ever  frequented,  except  what  was  fur- 
nished by  two  or  three  lamps  burning  dimly  in  different  parts  of 
it.  How  often  did  the  crowds  of  the  great  men  of  the  earth 
ihrong  these  long  promenades,  and  recUne  together  on  these 
vacant  seats,  carved  as  richly  as  if  each  were  for  a  king ! — 
Where  be  they  to-day,  when  in  the  Hall  of  their  power,  their 
secret  things  are  made  a  by-word ;  and  in  their  sacred  places, 
a  solitary  heretic,  from  a  world  of  whose  existence  they  had  no 
conception,  finds  the  echo  of  his  footsteps  as  he  treads  upon  their 
ashes,  the  only  sound  that  has  succeeded  to  the  shout  of  triumph 
and  the  voice  of  siern  command  !  The  fashion  of  this  world 
passeth  away.  Treasure  that  lesson,  oh,  my  heart; — for  thou 
hast  had  strange  proofs  of  its  truth. 

On  the  right  of  the  choir  is  a  large  chapel  devoted  to  the 
Saviour ;  in  which  besides  his  figure  on  the  cross,  are  two  as 
large  as  life  above  the  altar,  representing  Thomas  in  the  act  of 
putting  his  fingers  into  his  side.  On  the  opposite  side  is  a  chapel 
dedicated  to  the  Virgin  Mary ;  in  which  is  a  picture  of  her  above 
the  altar,  with  a  dagger  stuck  in  her  girdle.  No  bad  admission, 
1  thought.  And  turning  to  depart,  my  eyes  caught  the  inscrip- 
tion in  Latin  around  the  edge  of  the  sounding  board  over  the 
pulpit:  "  their  sound  has  gone  out  into  all  the  world." — True, 
most  true  ;  and  in  a  very  peculiar  sense,  different  from  what 
was  meant.  There  is  left  of  them  little  else  than  a  report. — 
That  has  indeed  gone  out  to  the  very  ends  of  the  earth.  I  heard 
it  there.  It  will  spread  to  the  uttermost  verge  of  time ;  and 
eternity  will  reiterate  the  tale  of  blood ! 

The  egress  through  the  inner  side,  leads  into  a  handsome 
court ;  in  the  midst  of  which  is  a  pillar  of  considerable  height^ 


FOREIGN    TRAVEL.  129 

upon  which  is  a  statue  of  the  Virgin  Mary  and  the  infant  Jesus. 
There  are  two  rows  of  inscriptions  in  letters  of  gold  on  the 
faces  of  the  pillar.  The  bottom  ones  are  long.  I  found  from 
one  of  them  that  the  diocess  of  of  Constance  is  dedicated  to  the 
Virgin  Mary,  and  placed  under  her  especial  care.  The  upper 
row  of  inscriptions  consisted  of  four  short  sentences — one  upon 
each  face  of  the  plinth  of  the  column.  They  follow :  MaricR 
PatronoR  Mortalium.  Maricz  Dumince  Angelorum.  Marias 
Terrori  Infernorum.  Marice  Refugio  Pecatorum.  "  To  Mary 
the  Patroness  of  Mortals.  To  Mary  the  Mistress  of  Angels. 
To  Mary  the  Terror  of  Devils.  To  Mary  the  Refuge  of  Sin- 
ners." If  these  things  are  true,  what  need  can  there  be  for  any 
other  deity  in  the  universe?  If  they  be  false,  how  awful  is  the 
blasphemy  contained  in  them?  But  true  or  false,  is  it  the  same 
system  which  is  taught  in  the  Bible  ? 


130  MEMOKANDA  OP 


CHAPTER   XIV 


Canton  Thurgovie — Eoute  from  Constance  to  Zuricli— Civil  and  Political  Cond; 
ditioa.— Ciiolera — Quarantines — Agriculture — Singular  Dress — Canton  Zuiich 
— Gieat  Prosperity— Grain  Market— City  and  Lake  of  Zurich— William  Tell— 
Feelings  of  tlie  Swiss  towards  Americans — Diiliculties  willi  France— National 
Spirit— Arsenal  of  Zurich— Ulric  Zwingle—Lavater— Literary  and  Religious 
Establishments— National  Costume— Burial  of  the  Dead— Birth  of  an  Infant. 


The  distance  from  Constance  to  Zurich  is  twelve  Swiss  leagues; 
equal  to  thirty  six  Enorlish  miles.  We  were  eleven  hours  making 
the  journey,  with  a  single  team  of  horses ;  for  which  we  paid 
eighteen  francs  each  and  eight  francs  to  the  driver.  There  is  na 
provision  for  posting  in  Switzerland  except  to  go  all  day,  with 
the  same  horses ;  for  which  you  always  pay  two  days  hire,  for 
a  single  day's  service;  the  charge  for  the  second  day  being  for 
their  return. 

The  greater  part  of  the  way,  lies  in  the  Canton  of  Thurgovie  ; 
as  is  the  case  also  with  the  route  from  Shatf  hausen  to  Constance- 
This  Canton  is  one  of  the  most  fertile  of  the  Confederation.  It 
coniuins  80.000  people:  of  whom  62,000,  are  Protestants,  and 
18,000  Catholics.  The  constitution  is  thoroughly  free  ;  the  Can- 
ton being  divided  into  eight  districts,  which  are  subdivided  into 
thirty  circles;  which  elect  the  grand  council  of  100  members,  to 
whom  appertain  the  powers  of  Government.  Its  most  consider- 
able towns  are  Dissenhofifcn  and  Steckhorn  on  the  Rhine,  and 
Frauenfeld  and  Winterthun,  on  the  great  road  from  Con- 
olance  to  Zurich.     They  are  all  walled  towns  ;  and  at  Frauen^ 


FOREIGN   TRAVEL.  131 

feld  which  Is  the  capital  of  the  Canton,  there  is  a  very  exten- 
sive and  well  preserved  specimen  of  the  ancient  square  towers ; 
which  seem  to  abound  in  Switzerland,  even  more  than  on  the 
northern  side  of  the  Rhine.  The  people  speak  exclusively  the 
German  tontrue,  though  in  a  very  peculiar  patois. 

Our  farther  progress  to  the  south-east  from  Constance,  was  ren- 
dered impossible  by  the  prevalence  of  Cholera,  and  the  sanatory 
r 'gulatiins  of  the  countries  beyond  the  Alps,  in  regard  to  it. — 
All  the  little  states  in  the  north  of  Italy,  have  been  ravaged 
during  the  whole  summer  by  this  terrible  scourge.  In  Venice, 
it  prevailed  from  the  end  of  the  year  1835,  for  ten  months  with- 
out intermission.  At  this  moment  it  rages,  in  the  mountains  of 
the  Grisons  and  the  Tyrol  which  are  amongst  the  most  elevated 
portions  of  the  earth  ;  and  has  gradually  extended  itself  south- 
wardly along  the  Adriatic,  westwardly  in  Peidraont  and  Savoy, 
and  to  the  north-east  over  Hungary,  Austria,  Bohemia,  and  parts 
of  Bavaria.  As  yet  the  Alps  have  stopped  its  progress  directly 
to  the  north.  Not  a  case  has  ever  occurred  in  Switzerland,  on 
the  northern  side  of  these  frozen  barriers.  The  quarantine  reg- 
ulations, are  nearly  as  much  to  be  avoided  as  Cholera  itself;  and 
the  states  in  which  the  disease  confessedly  prevails,  enforce  these 
vexatious  and  worse  than  useless  restraints  against  each  other, 
as  severely  as  if  they  were  themselves  exempt  from  the  pestilence. 

The  way  to  Italy  over  the  Alps,  has  been  comparatively  forsa^ 
ken,  for  many  months ;  and  the  hope  that  the  approach  of  autumn 
would  produce  some  favourable  change,  is  not  yet  realized. — 
We  have  therefore,  either  to  abandon  all  idea  of  seeing  Italy; 
or  make  a  detour  to  the  south-west  of  five  hundred  miles,  and 
find  our  way  to  Rome  by  water  from  some  port  on  the  Mediter- 
ranean. We  will  turn  then,  the  left  flank  of  the  Alps ;  we  will 
take  up  the  line  of  march,  through  the  centre  of  Switzerland 
and  the  south  of  France,  overhung  at  every  step  by  his  summits. 
Nor  will  we  regret  having  gone,  needlessly,  as  to  our  main 
design,  five  hundred  miles  out  of  the  way.  The  days  we  spent 
in  accomplishing  them,  are  days  of  gratified  curiosity,  and  increas- 
ing knowledge  ;  and  the  vineyards  of  Champagne,  the  beauti- 
ful hills  of  Lorraine,  the  plains  of  Alsace,  the  clear  waters  of  the 


132  MEMORANDA    OF 

Rhine,  the  blue  sources  of  the  Danube,  the  dark  sunamits  of  the 
Black  Forest,  and  the  forsaken  streets  of  Constance,  though  our 
eyes  behold  them  no  more,  will  be  often  revisited  by  the  restless 
spirit. 

The  whole  population  of  Thurgovie,  seemed  to  be  labouring  in 
the  fields  as  we  passed  through  their  pleasant  country.  Some 
were  sowing  wheat ;  others  digging  the  potatoe,  which  seems  to 
be  universally  cultivated,  and  no  where  to  yield  abundantly ; 
many  were  gathering  in  the  ripe  fruits,  especially  apples  and 
plums,  of  which  latter,  they  have  the  greatest  quantities  in  Switz- 
erland, of  the  largest  and  sweetest  kind  ;  from  which  they  make 
a  drink  called  "  Zvegslenwasser."  The  cow  and  the  ox  are  the 
chief  domestic  drudges;  and  they  are  yoked,  in  a  very  peculiar 
manner,  by  the  neck,  but  each  separately.  In  Germany  they  are 
yoked  by  the  head ;  but  the  same  yoke  commonly  unites  two 
firmly  together;  in  America,  they  are  caparisoned  in  the  same 
way,  but  on  the  neck ;  in  Switzerland,  by  the  neck,  but  each 
separately.  The  Swiss  cattle,  are  generally,  remarkably  beauti- 
ful ;  and  they  constitute  a  large  part  of  the  wealth  of  the  rural 
districts.  The  people  differ  in  a  few  respects  from  their  neigh- 
bours of  Shaff  hausen  and  Constance  ;  except  in  the  caps  of  the 
women  which  look  exceedingly  like  the  tail  of  a  turkeycock, 
spread  to  its  full  dimensions,  and  seated  on  the  back  of  the  head. 
In  the  centre  of  them  behind,  just  on  the  back  of  the  head,  and 
visible  only  when  you  are  right  behind  them,  I  have  often  seen, 
down  in  the  depths  of  the  cap,  circular  brass  plates,  (which  I 
believe  were  the  heads  of  the  largest  sized  curtain  screws):  from 
five  or  six  inches  over  ;  seated  as  a  base  around  which  a  frame 
work  flares  obliquely  backwards  two  feet;  being  occasionally, 
I  should  think  three  feet  wide,  at  the  upper  extremity;  Tliis 
decoration  is  reduced  or  laid  aside  by  females,  when  at  work : 
and  in  Switzerland  as  in  France  and  Baden,  they  perform  ev^ry 
sort  of  labour  with  and  as  the  men. 

The  Steig  divides  Thurgovie  from  Zurich ;  and  on  its  summit 
you  are  greeted  with  a  superb  view  of  the  Appenzale  and  Glarus 
Alps,  which  lie  off  to  the  south-east.  The  Canton  of  Zurich, 
the  first  in  rank,  is  one  of  the  largest  of  them  all.    Its  inhabit- 


FOREIGN   TRAVEL.  133 

anlSj  are  the  genuine  descendants  of  the  oncient  Almans,  whose 
language,  habits,  and  spirit  they  in  a  great  degree  preserve. — 
They  number  190,000  souls,;  of  whom  almost  the  whole  are  Pro- 
testants. Since  the  reformation,  the  people  of  this  Canton  have 
pushed  all  the  branches  of  agricullure  suitable  to  their  climate 
and  soil,  to  a  high  degree  of  perfection.  I  visited  the  grain 
market  of  Zurich  during  one  of  the  regular  market  days,  and 
was  greatly  delighted  with  the  whole  appearance  of  the  scene. 
The  large  Hall,  was  filled  with  all  sorts  of  grains  and  vetches, 
of  admirable  kinds ;  the  street  before  it  crowded  with  wagons, 
heavily  loaded,  and  drawn  by  good  horses,  or  beautiful  cattl^; 
the  long  light  boats  from  the  lake,  lined  the  quay  upon  which 
the  steps  of  the  Hall  landed  in  the  rear  ;  and  the  farmers  with 
their  tight  leather  breeches,  and  woollen  morning  gowns  for 
cloaks  looked  cheerful  and  well.  There  is  in  another  part  of  the 
City  an  immense  public  storehouse  for  grain,  provided  in  case  of 
a  year  of  scarcity.  The  grain  is  perfectly  dried  ;  and  would  keep 
sweet,  for  an  indefinite  period.  The  building  in  which  it  is  stored 
away,  was  originally  a  Convent  for  White  Monks,  One  .is 
very  often  amused,  at  the  strange  migrations  through  which  the 
religious  houses  of  the  dark  ages  have  passed,  siace  the  diffu- 
sion of  light;  and  still  oftener  consoled,  to  see  the  public  good 
promoted,  by  giving  a  new  use  or  direction  to  what  were  so 
long  sources  of  unmixed  evil.  How  much  better  is  a  granary, 
against  a  time  of  famine,  (to  which  interior  places,  are  so  much 
more  subject  than  others,)  to  give  people  bread  ;  than  a  set  of 
idle  vagabonds  who  spent  their  lives  in  debauching  and  eating 
up  society?  How  much  better  to  feed  the  starving  body  with 
sound  food  ;  than  to  poison  the  hungry  soul  with  superstitious 
falsehood  .'*  The  manufactures  also  of  the  Canton,  especially 
those  of  cotton,  acquired  a  very  great  perfection  at  an  early 
period;  and  have  retained  it  to  the  present  time.  Large  quan- 
tities of  the  beautiful  article,  known  over  the  world  as  Swiss 
muslin,  are  made  here. 

The  city  of  Zurich  is  a  very  pretty  place,  containing  twelve 
or  thirteen  thousand  souls;  and  situated  on  both  sides  of  the 
Limalh  where  it  issues  from  the  Zuricher  See,  or  lake  of  Zurich. 
Vol.  ii.—lS 


134  MEMORANDA    OF 

The  lake  is  about  two  leagues  lono;,  and  one  broad.  Just  below 
the  town,  the  Sihl  empties  itself;  and  at  the  confluence  of  the 
rivers,  and  along  both  banks,  is  a  most  delightful  promenade. 
In  a  thick  grove  at  the  end  of  it,  is  a  large  monument  of  black 
marble  in  the  shape  of  a  Roman  altar,  erected  to  Gessner,  by  his 
fellow-citizens  of  the  town.  On  either  side  of  the  narrow  valley 
in  which  the  city  is  built,  are  mountains,  which  raise  to  the 
height  of  twelve  or  fifteen  hundred  feet  above  the  level  of  the 
lake  ;  and  shut  in  the  prospect.  But  to  the  south-east,  the  lake, 
its  verdant  and  highly  adorned  shores,  and  the  distant  and 
majestic  Alps,  expand  before  ynu  from  every  part  of  the  city. 
From  some  of  the  promenades  on  the  ramparts,  and  other  ele- 
vations in  and  around  the  place,  this  view  is  indescrihably  superb. 
This  is  particulary  the  case,  from  the  ramparts  called  die  Katze  ; 
from  the  terrace  of  the  noble  establishment  for  orphans;  and 
from  the  Lindenhof.  This  last  is  a  delightful  spot,  lifted  up  a 
hundred  and  fifteen  feet  above  the  Liraath,  covered  with  im- 
mense Linden  trees  (v^hence  its  name) ;  and  refreshed  by  a 
delightful  fountain.  Upon  it  the  Romans  had  a  citadel ;  here  for 
many  ages,  the  tribunals  of  Zurich  held  their  public  sessions;  and  ^ 
here  if  popular  tradition  in  the  place  is  to  credited,  was  enacted 
that  thrilling  scene  between  William  Tell^  his  infant  boy,  and 
the  Austria  bailiff  Gessler,  at  whose  recital  our  youug  bosoms 
heaved  with  such  intense  emotions ;  and  which  five  hundred 
years  have  not  robbed  of  a  particle  of  its  interest  in  the  eyes  of 
his  grateful  countrymen. 

The  admiration  of  the  Swiss  for  the  character  of  William  Tell 
is  an  unbounded  national  passion.  The  duHest  eye  kindles  at 
the  mention  of  his  name.  Every  emotion  of  patriotism,  national 
gratitude,  and  ardent  love  of  liberty,  seems  to  find  its  readiest 
mode  of  utterance.  In  passionate  expressions  regarding  this  he- 
roic man.  Their  idea  of  him,  embodies  what  in  their  view  is 
most  perfect  in  man  ;  and  this  abstraction  is  kindled  into  enthu- 
siasm by  the  sense  of  inexpressible  personal  obligations.  If  lie 
deserved  such  reverence — and  who  shall  say  he  did  not."* — it  is 
refreshing  to  see  it  rendered  by  the  free  ;  a  standing  monument 
that  slaves  he,  when  they  say  we  are  ungrateful. — If  it  exceeds 


FOREIGN    TRAVEL,  135 

all  mortal  desert,  it  reveals  at  least  the  depth  of  human  devotion 
to  those  inextinguishable  rights,  which  God  has  decreed  to  be  the 
birth  right  of  man  ;  but  which  man  has  so  seldom  enjoyed. 

1  have  perhaps  found  a  more  frequent  expression  of  feehngon 
this  subject,  th;in  I  should  have  witnessed  at  another  time;  or 
than  would  be  observed  by  any  but  an  American.  I  often  wish 
we  hatl  some  name  for  our  language,  that  would  uislinguish  our 
country.  They  perceive  by  your  accent  what  is  yowr  native 
^<peech  :  and  at  oncesaddress  themselves,  every  where  in  Europe, 
10  providing  for  your  peculiarities,  in  diet,  manners,  and  habits; 
as  if  you  were  English.  Nine-tenths  of  these  English  peculiar- 
ities are  the  very  opposite  of  what  nine  out  of  ten  Americans 
would  themselves  practice ;  and  of  the  remaining  tenth,  nine 
parts  are  not  to  my  taste.  I  even  refuse,  naturally,  both  beef- 
steak and  tea  ;  eat  no  raw  meat ;  and  abhor  malt-liquors.  It  is 
therefore  needful — constantly  for  an  American  in  Europe  to  say  ; 
you  are  mistaken — I  am  no  Englishman,  If  we  could  say — I 
speak  American  ; — instead  of  saying  I  speak  English  ;  by-and-by 
they  would  cease  to  be  deluded  by  our  accent.  For  as  to  speak- 
ing any  foreign  language  without  one,  I  have  little  fiiith  in  it. 

This  digression  is  longer  perhaps  than  was  necessary,  to  show 
that  all  Americans  must  necessarily  make  themselves  known  as 
such;  or  do  worse.  It  generally  creates  a  sensation  to  do  so. 
The  distance  is  commented  on  ;  it  is  to  them,  a  place  somewhere 
in  limbo.  Gur  double  war  with  the  English ;  or  our  recent  quarrel 
with  Louis  Phillippe,  are  each  commonly  remarked  on,  and 
always  with  a  double  surprise:  first  at  conduct  which  seems  to 
iheni  audacious,  and  secondly  at  its  unaccountable  success.  It 
is  but  justice  to  say,  that  whatever  may  be  thought  of  the  recent 
difficulties  between  the  King  of  the  French  and  the  President  of 
the  United  States,  (General  Jackson);  the  universal  effect  in  Eu- 
rope has  been  extremely  favourable  to  our  country.  In  Swit- 
zerland, universally,  the  first  idea  when  your  country  is  known 
seems  to  be  of  Washington  !  In  the  next  instant  they  recur  to 
their  own  past  and  glorious  history.  The  third  transition  is  to 
iheir  own  recent  difficulties  witli  France  and  some  of  the  Ger- 
man States. 


136 


MEMORANDA    OF 


It  is  France  especially  at  which  they  are  enraged  ,-  and  ever/ 
part   of  Switzerland  seems  deeply  excited.     Popular  meeting.^ 
have  occurred  in  all  the  Cantons.     And  such  meetings  mean 
more  here  than  any  where  else ;  for  they  annually  assemble  in 
nearly  all  the  Cantons  for  the  regular  exercise  of  the  sovereign 
power  of  the  State.     About  a  month  before  my  arrival  at  Zurich, 
a  meeting  of  this  kind  took  place  here;  and  strangely  enough, 
upon  the  spot  where  Massena,  in  1798,  gained  his  most  decisive 
victor3'  over  the  Austrians.     Ten   thousand  freemen  of  Zurich 
united  their  unanimous  voice  with  that  of  the  other  Cantons, 
hurling  contempt  and  defiance  at  the  King  of  the  French.    They 
have  all  held  the  same  language  :  "  We  have  no  wish,"  they  say, 
"  to  harbour  persons  responsible  to  the  laws  of  their  own  countrs , 
We  will  not  allow  machinations  to  be  carried  on  in  Switzci- 
land  against  the  tranquillity  of  any  neighbouring  slate,  or  the 
safely  of  any  neighbouring  Prince.     But  on  the  other  hand,  we 
will  not  be  dictated  to  by  Louis  Phillippe,  on  any  part  cf  this 
subject.     We  will  not  permit  him  to  send  his  spies  into  Switzer- 
land for  any  purpose,  least  of  all  for  the  purpose  of  tampering 
with  political  refugees  who  have  come  hither  for  shelter,  from  ty- 
ranny ;  and  after  exciting  these  poor  men  to  desperate  aitempis, 
as  he  has  already  done  years  ago  those  of  Spain,  Poland,  Italy 
and  Germany,  abandon  and  sacrifice  them  ;  and  all  for  the  purpose 
of  giving  false  pretexts  to  movements  against  the  liberties  of  his 
own  country.     We  are  not  an  apanage  of  France.     We  mean 
to  continue  free  or  perish.     And  above  all  sovereigns,  we  choose 
not  Louis  Phillippe!'* 

It  must  be  confessed  they  have  had  some  reason  to  be  enraged 
against  the  King  of  the  French;  against  whose  minister  here, 
the  Duke  of  Moatebello,  they  have  proved  in  the  face  of  Europe 
the  most  infamous  proceedings.  The  clear  and  conclusive  paper 
of  the  Swiss  Diet  on  the  whole  subject,  appeared  about  the 
same  time  that  M.  Viordrat  published  an  expose  of  the  conducr 
of  the  French  Government  in  the  affairs  of  the  Spanish  refugees, 
six  years  ago.  He  represents  himself  to  have  been  the  aecred- 
iied  agent  who  transacted  all  the  business  between  the  Frenclj 
Gavernraent,   and  a  committee  of  Spanish  refugees    thea  va 


FOREIGN    TRAVEL.  137 

Paris ;  at  the  liead  of  which  was  Mina  and  JMendizable.  The 
object  was  no  less  than  to  revoUitionize  Spain  and  Portiii^al,  and 
unite  the  crowns,  upon  the  head  of  one  of  the  sons  of  Louis 
Phillippe,  married  to  some  princess  of  the  house  of  Braganza; 
exchiding  entirely  the  Spanish  line  of  Bourbon.  And  Louis 
Phillippe,  says  M.  V.,  tampered  with,  supported,  and  sacrificed 
ifie  refugees.  Whatever  be  the  facts  of  these  cases,  this  good 
at  least  has  resulted:  the  Swiss  Cantons  have  manifested  to 
Europe  that  they  are  inspired  with  the  intrepid  spirit  of  their 
fathers.  And  it  may  be  hoped  that  while  such  a  manifestation 
will  not  be  without  its  influence  on  surrounding  states ;  all  men, 
who  hereafter  conquer  their  freedom,  will  be  instructed  by  the 
credulity  of  the  French  in  1830,  and  the  conduct  of  Louis  Phil- 
lippe ever  since.  Jt  is  high  time  men  had  learned  that  kings  are 
but  men  ;  and  that  if  they  are  able  to  govern  others,  others  like 
ihem  are  surely  able  to  govern  themselves.  If  any  sort  of  gov- 
ernment can  exist,  which  men  are  to  administer;  a  fortiori,  free 
governments  can.  Kings  are  then,  more  than  men;  or  they 
are  worse  than  useless. 

One  of  the  most  interesting  places  about  Zurich  is  the  city 
Arsenal.  The  first  object  that  strikes  you  as  you  enter  the  large 
room,  is  long  and  thick  rows  of  complete  suits  of  armour,  ranged 
like  men  ready  for  battle.  The  plain  suils  in  the  upper  ranks 
are  those  of  the  Swiss  who  fell  at  Morat;  the  more  highly 
finished  and  darker  coloured  suits  below  them  belonged  to  the 
officers  of  Charles  the  Bold  of  Burgundy,  slain  on  that  disas- 
trous day.  Along  the  walls  fronting,  are  pikes  and  lances  and 
crossbows,  and  the  numerous  two  handed  swords  of  the  ancient 
Swiss,  and  their  vanquished  enemies  ;  each  having  a  tale  of  its 
own,  that  makes  the  heart  bound.  On  the  opposite  side,  and 
liung  thickly  around  the  room,  are  banners,  taken  on  the  field  of 
battle  ;  hanging  by  the  side  of  those,  which  were  borne  triumph- 
antly over  them.  That  small  banner  with  a  crossbow  of  gold 
in  the  centre,  and  the  cross  of  the  confederation  at  the  top,  is 
the  banner  of  William  Tell !  The  larger  one  by  its  side,  plain, 
blue  and  white,  with  a  collar  of  red  ;  is  the  one  under  whose  folds 
Zwingle,  who  was  to  the  religion  what  Tell  was  to  the  freedom 
13* 


135  MEMORANDA    OF 

of  Switzerland,  died  on  the  field  of  Cappel.  They  have  his^ 
armour  at  Luzern.  There  is  the  fieur  de  lis  of  France  ;  it  was 
pointed  out  with  peculiar  emphasis.  And  on  all  sides  the  tatter- 
ed and  too  certain  monuments,  of  many  a  bloody  day.  Alas  1' 
for  blind  and  t'./ing  worms,  who  are  perishing  like  the  moth ; 
and  who  yet  mjist  needs  hasten  each  other  to  perdition.  Alas  T 
for  the  hard  alternative  to  which  a  wicked  world  so  often  reduces 
us;  to  shed  our  fellow's  blood,  or  part  with  what  is  dearer  to  u& 
than  our  own  !  Woman  too  !  That  she  should  mingle  in  sucli 
fearful  strifes;  and  rob  the  savage  life  of  man  of  the  sweet 
influences  with  which  her  smile  and  voice  adorn  and  bless  it  t 
A  woman  clad  in  steel!  And  men  who  have  mothers  and 
wifes,  savage  enough  to  lift  their  hands  against  her !  I  never 
behold  these  female  coats  of  mail,  (and  they  are  to  be  found 
in  all  ancient  collections,)  without  a  thrill  of  joy  at  the  recollec- 
tion of  what  the  Christian  religion  has  done  for  woman. 

1  have  mentioned  the  name  of  Zwingle.     Would    that  the 
church  of  God  knew  it  better.    Would  that  some  one  competent 
to  the  work,  and  while  the  materials  still  abundantly  exist ;  would 
write  a  memoir  worthy  of  his  great  name.     He  saw  the  truth 
before  Luther ;  he  saw  it  more  plainly  and  fully ;  he  received  it 
all  with  a  more  docile  spirit ;  and  sooner  clothed  himself  with  all 
its  vestments.     I  have  stood  with  profound  emotion  in  the  pulpit 
of  the  vast  cathedral  of  this  city  ;  the  seat  of  his  latest  labours. 
I  have  trod  upon  the  sacred  spot  which  drank  up  the  warm  cur- 
rents  of  bis  life ;  shed  in  the  just  and  lawful  defence  of  religioi^ 
and  his   country.     Joshua  before  the  gates  of  Jericho,  had 
doubtless  a  plainer,  but  perhaps  not  a  more  real  call  of  God, 
than  Ulric  Zwingle  at  the  field  of  Cappel.     Though  cut  off  earlier 
than  most  of  his  co-workers  in  the  great  cause  of  religious  re- 
form ;  he  was  either  a  wiser,  or  a  more  fortunate  workman  thais 
the  most  of  them.    The  efflux  of  three  hundi-ed  years  finds  the 
simple  gospel  order  of  the  churches  of  Zurich  just  as  he  left  it : 
the  smiles  of  God  resting  upon  his  chosen  city,  and  his  blessingt? 
poured  upon  the  field  of  his  wise  and  intrepid  labours.     What 
matters  it  if  we  live  long  or  hve  short,  so  that  we  live  to  the 
glory  of  God  and  the  good  of  man  ! 
The  religious  and  literary  establishments  of  Zurloh,  like  those 


FOREIGN   TRAVEL.  l39 

of  all  the  Protestant  Cantons,  are  extremely  simple  and  compre- 
liensive.  Religious  liberty  is  perfect.  I  passed  through  a  Cath- 
olic chapel  to  go  into  the  cemetry  of  the  church  of  St.  Peter,  to 
see  the  tomb  of  Lavater  the  Physiognomist;  who  had  once  been 
the  pastor  of  the  latter,  and  who  was  shot  between  his  door  and 
the  church,  by  a  random  bullet,  when  the  French,  Austrians,' 
and  Russians  were  murdering  each  other  under  the  city  walls,  in 
the  year  1798  or  '9.  The  city  is  divided  into  four  parishes,  with 
two  pastors  to  each ;  and  there  is  a  small  congregation  of  the 
French  Reformed  church.  The  city  library  contains  about 
60,000  volumes  (a  greater  number  by  half  than  is  owned  by  the 
Congress  of  the  United  States);  and  is  said  to  possess  a  number 
of  inedited  manuscripts  of  the  illustrious  men  of  Switzerland — 
amongst  which  are  many  of  Zwingle.  The  University  is  one 
of  the  most  celebrated  in  Switzerland  ;  and  the  whole  system  of 
popular  and  superior  instruction,  is  in  a  condition  of  great  pros- 
perity and  activity.  There  are  three  Gazettes  published  in  this 
city  ;  two  of  which  appear  twice  a  week.  The  civil  constitution 
of  the  Canton  and  city  is  not  only  free,  but  strongly  democratic. 
It  is  extremely  singular  that  persons  of  different  countries  and 
religions  should  perform  in  ways  so  dissimilar,  those  simple  and 
constantly  recurring  duties  which  devolve  on  all  alike.  For 
example,  what  diversities  in  the  burial  of  llie  dead.''  I  came 
suddenly  upon  a  fiineral  in  the  streets  of  Zurich.  It  did  not 
meet  me  unexpectedly ;  for  I  had  seen  the  open  grave  in  the 
cemetry  of  which  I  have  already  spoken.  And  the  children 
whom  I  saw  playing  around  it  on  the  grass,  contrasted  so  terribly 
with  the  long  bones  of  the  arms  and  the  pieces  of  skulls  of  other 
generations,  which  the  grave  digger  threw  out  of  the  pit;  that 
the  scene  hung  about  me.  At  the  end  of  a  street  a  crowd  of 
men  stood,  silent  and  uncovered.  I  took  off  my  hat  and  stood 
amongst  them.  The  street  was  lined  for  a  considerable  dis- 
tance ;  and  a  procession  came  slowly  down  the  hill.  All  were 
men,  and  all  uncovered.  Six  bore  the  coffin,  over  which  a  black 
pall  was  thrown.  The  rest  walked  behind,  slowly,  and  in  silence. 
This  is  well,  I  said  to  myself;  extremely  suitable.  That  is  the 
minister,  said  the  man  next  me ;  and  I  was  grieved  to  see  a  band 


140  MEMORANDA    OF 

and  cocked  hat,  and  a  long  black  affair  like  a  short  cloak  hanging- 
from  between  the  centre  of  the  shoulders,  by  a  cord  round  the 
neck  and  breast.  Upon  close  inspection  I  found  that  a  number 
of  other  persons  bad  similar  dependencies.  As  the  end  of  the 
procession  passed,  those  who  lined  the  streets  put  on  their  hats 
and  retired.  I  asked  if  it  was  a  person  of  consequence?  No, 
was  the  reply  ;  it  is  the  habit  of  the  country,  to  pay  this  respect 
to  the  dead. 

Five  minutes  before,  we  had  seen  a  female  issuing  in  great 
haste  from  a  house  on  the  street;  and  in  evident  excitement, 
hastening  tlrom  place  to  place.  She  carried  an  immense  nosegay, 
worked  upon  a  frame  two  or  three  feet  high,  and  composed  of 
every  sort  of  gay  flower.  She  is  going,  said  the  Valet  de 
Place,  who  was  our  guide,  to  communicate  to  the  friends  of  her 
master's  family  the  birth  of  an  infant,  just  come  into  existence. 
It  is  our  custom,  he  added.  My  heart  approved  it,  as  kind  and 
affecting.  At  every  stage  of  our  being  we  need  each  other's 
sympathy,  or  require  mutual  aid  in  bearing  each  other's  burdens. 
There,  proceeds  the  evidence  that  some  hearts  are  torn  ;  and  we 
hear  the  Master's  voice  bidding  us  weep  with  those  that  weep. 
Here,  is  a  messenger  of  good  tidings ;  and  the  same  heavenly 
admonition  bids  us  open  our  hearts  lo  all  kindly  influences,  antl 
rejoice  with  those  that  do  rejoice.  It  is  but  from  this  to  that  end 
of  a  narrow  promenade ;  and  it  is  over  with  us  all.  How  it 
adds  to  the  gracefulness  and  sweetness  of  the  brief  passage  ;• 
and  ah,  how  will  it  minister  blessings  on  its  close  ;  to  be  kindly 
afFectioned  one  towards  another  as  we  struggle  through  it  i 


FOREIGN    TRAVEL.  141 


CHAPTER    XV 


Occupation  of  Switzerland  by  the  Romans— Canton  Zug— The  Fields  of  Cappel 
and  Morgarten— Churches— Don  Carlos— Exposure  of  the  Dead— Canton  Schvvytz 
— Remauis  of  Ancient  Dialects — The  Avelanche  of  Goldau — Mont  Rigi — Remark- 
able Geological  Peculiarities— Tell's"  Chapel — The  Alps. 


It  is  probable  that  the  whole  of  Switzerland  was  completely 
occupied  by  the  Romans.  On  the  island  of  Lindau,  in  the 
southern  part  of  the  lake  of  Constance,  Tiberius  established  a 
camp  under  the  reign  of  Aucpuslus ;  and  it  was  made  the  central 
point  from  which  for  six  years,  they  carried  on  a  war  against 
the  Rhetians.  It  is  probable,  also,  that  their  most  extensive 
and  strongly  fortified  station  was  not  far  to  the  right  of  Zurich, 
as  you  go  towards  the  west.  At  the  confluence  of  the  river 
Limath,  with  the  Aar  and  the  Reuss,  in  the  Canton  Argovie, 
the  most  considerable  ruins  are  still  found  ;  spreading  over  an 
extensive  tract,  and  occupying  several  villages  around  the  spot  I 
have  mentioned.  The  Romans  called  the  place  Vindomissa. 
One  of  the  villages  is  now  called  Windish.  This  spot  is  sup- 
posed to  have  been  the  permanent  station  of  the  21st  Legion ; 
which  was  the  elite  of  the  Roman's  forces,  employed  on  the 
upper  Rhine.  In  all  the  adjacent  parts,  indeed  nearly  in  every 
part  of  Switzerland,  as  well  as  in  Germany,  France,  Spain,  and 
the  British  Islands,  the  remains  of  that  astonishing  people  still 
exist; — and  new  monuments  of  them  are  even  now,  after  the 
lapse  of  two  thousand  years,  frequently  discovered.  The  boast 
of  Attila  was,  that  no  grass  ever  grew  where  his  cavalry  had 


142  MEMORANDA    OF 

once  passed.  But  I  iiave  never  looked  upon  any  fragment  of 
Roman  power,  nor  on  the  smallest  vestage  of  their  presence  ;  that 
1  have  not  been  ready  to  say,  civilization  and  wisdom  and  fidelity 
and  farsighted  policy  and  quenchless  courage,  have  trod  this 
soil!  Rare  greatness:  to  have  been  able  to  reach  universal 
command  ;  to  have  left  every  uhere  decisive  proofs  of  having 
well  deserved  it;  to  have  increased  the  amount  of  happiness 
and  knowledge  in  every  land ;  and  in  their  very  fall,  to  have  left 
an  infusion  of  their  spirit  and  polity,  which  saved  the  nations 
from  absolute  despair,  through  long  ages  of  darkness,  under  the 
tripple  cause  of  Mahomedanisni,  Popery,  and  Barbarism,  whicl-. 
overwhelmed  together  their  wide  dominions! 

If  there  be  any  part  of  ancient  Helvetia  whicl^was  not  occu- 
pied by  the  Romans,  possibly  not  settled  at  all  during  their 
possession  of  the  country;  it  was  that  wild  region,  compos- 
iiig  part  of  what  is  called  the  Four  Forest  Cantons  ;  especially 
the  Canton  of  Schwytz,  through  a  part  of  which  we  passed  in 
going  from  Zurich  to  Luzern  by  way  of  Zug. 

Zug  is  the  smallest  but  one  of  the  Swiss  Cantons :  its  whole  sur- 
face being  less  than  five  geographic  square  miles.  A  very  con- 
siderable part  of  this  small  superficies  is  occupied  by  mountains, 
or  covered  by  lake  Zug  ;  which  is  about  four  leagues  long  by  one 
broad.  The  pop  lation  of  the  whole  Canton  does  not  exceed 
16,000  souls;  almost  the  whole  of  whom  profess  the  Catholic 
religion.  It  has,  however,  a  fine  climate,  and  a  soil  admirably 
adapted  for  pasturage,  to  compensate  in  some  degree  for  its  too 
straitened  limits.  And  so  far  have  its  secluded  situation  and 
narrow  boundary  been  from  securing  it  the  tranquillity  which 
would  seem  to  belong  to  these  conditions;  that  it  has  been  the 
theatre  of  some  of  the  bloodiest  contests  in  wliich  the  Swiss 
have  engaged.  On  the  plain  to  the  south  of  Cappel,  a  small 
village  of  Zurich,  was  fought  the  dreadful  battle  during  the  civil 
wars  of  religion,  in  which  Zwingle  fell  in  1531.  The  little 
plain,  skirted  by  the  lofiy  Alhis  on  the  left,  and  a  dense  forest  on 
the  right,  with  a  ditch  and  rivulet  through  the  centre  ;  smiles  as 
sweetly  upon  you,  as  if  iis  bosom  had  not  drank  up  precious 
blood,  shed  for  liberty  to  worship  God  in  the  mode  pointed  ou'. 


FOREIGN   TRAVEL.  143 

hy  himself;  a  liberty  seldom  f^ranted  by  the  Papacy,  to  any  she 
is  able  to  incarcerate,  to  butcher,  or  to  burn.  Near  to  the 
town  of  Zun^,  on  the  eastern  side  of  the  lake,  lies  the  valley  of 
Morgarten ;  where  the  Swiss  gained  their  first  and  most  import- 
ant victory  over  the  Austrians.  In  one  respect  this  little  common- 
wealth, is  an  object  of  mosi  profound  interest  to  every  lover  of 
his  race  and  of  liberty.  Since  the  year  1352,  it  has  existed  a 
free  and  popular  government;  without  revolutions,  changes  or 
internal  strifes.  What  other  government,  nc^ //-^e,  now  exists, 
or  ever  did  exist,  which  could  make  similar  statements  of  any 
five  centuries  of  their  existence?  And  yet  it  is  difficult  if  not 
impossible  to  discover  here  .•Jny  thing  that  might  not  be  dis- 
covered in  any  other  portion  of  the  human  race,  of  equal  num- 
bers, left  equally  to  themselves.  The  lust  of  power  hath  eaten 
up  the  earth.  And  to  enable  itself  to  do  so,  it  hath  first  brutal- 
ized mankind.  And  then  to  justify  its  doings,  hath  declared  itself 
regnant  by  the  fiat  of  God  ;  and  those  it  has  destroyed,  capable 
by  the  same  pat  of  nothing  but  subjection  ! 

Zug  is  a  small,  ancient  looking  place,  situated  on  the  eastern 
side  of  the  lake,  near  its  northern  end.  You  discover  at  once 
that  you  are  again  in  a  re^^ion  of  Catholics;  and  in  walking 
about  the  place,  I  stepped,  as  is  my  habit,  into  one  of  the 
churches.  The  parish  church  is  dedicated  to  "Monsieur  Saint 
Michael  the  Arch-Angel."  I  was  amused  at  the  politeness 
which  his  title  exhibited ;  and  was  entirely  at  a  loss  to  compre- 
hend upon  what  authority, or  by  Avhat  process,  he  being  an  Arch- 
Angelj  could  have  become  a  Saint.  It  was  my  purpose  to  visit 
his  church.  But  I  missed  my  way,  and  found  myself  in  that  of 
Saint  Oswald.  An  old  man  entered  the  church  immediately 
after,  and  very  anxiously  exhibited  its  decorations  and  treasures. 
The  amount  of  silver  utensils  greatly  surprised  me,  both  by 
their  extent  and  their  dimensions.  But  what  seemed  the  most 
prized  was  a  small  gold  service,  presented  to  the  church  by  Don 
Carlos  of  Spain  ;,  as  an  inscription  on  the  bottom  of  a  plateau, 
dated  1826,  declared.  By  the  way,  this  Don  Carlos  is  a  great 
enigma.  His  general  character  is  that  of  a  man  of  sincerity 
and  honour  ;  and  yet  he  has  committed  numberless  acts  which 


144  MEMORANDA    OF 

are  utterly  irreconcileable  with  either  trait.  He  is  universally 
suspected  of  cowardice,  and  has  never  been  present  even  in  a 
skirmish,  during  a  war  of  several  years  duration  ;  and  yet  the 
inception  and  whole  process  of  the  war  indicate  obstinate 
braver\\  His  whole  aim  is  to  restore  to  Spain  absolute  despot- 
ism ;  and  yet  he  is  heroically  supported  by  the  only  provinces 
in  Spain,  that  retained,  before  the  late  revolution,  any  portion  of 
their  ancient  freedom  ;  and  by  no  others.  I  strongly  suspected 
him  of  beinor  a  cheat,  as  to  his  religious  professions  ;  for  really  it 
seemed  incredible  that  he  could  be  in  earnest  in  appointing  the 
Virgin  Mary  general-in-chief  of  his  forces ;  and  using  as  his 
banner  an  embroidered  frock.  But  it  is  inexplicable,  if  he  be 
not  sincere,  why  he  should  have  selected  this  small  obscure  state 
— this  mean,  antique  town — this  church,  neither  the  first,  nor 
perhaps  the  second  in  it,  as  an  object  of  his  princely  bounty. 

In  one  corner  of  the  church  yard,  which  is  thickly  covered 
with  crosses  set  up  over  the  dead,  in  the  manner  usual  in  ceme- 
teries of  this  sect ;  stands  a  small  chapel,  apparently  for  common 
use,  in  burying  the  dead.  One  entire  side  was  in  open  arches; 
a  lamp  burning  before  its  altar;  and  one  aged  female  with  a 
long  siring  of  what  looked  like  glass  beads,  praying  at  the  ballus- 
trade.  I  stood  at  one  of  the  entrances,  and  encountered  an 
object  which  filled  me  with  horror.  In  one  corner  of  the  chapel 
stood  a  pen,  reaching  from  the  floor  nearly  to  the  ceiling,  and 
almost  full  of  human  bones.  The  pen  was  made  of  narrow 
pieces  of  plank,  so  put  together  as  to  leave  square  holes  like 
nests  in  a  pigeon  house.  There  were  fourteen  rows  of  these 
squares  from  the  floor  up.  On  the  two  sides  there  were  fourteen 
others;  nine  on  one  side, and  on  the  other,  five.  There  were  of 
course  just  one  hundred  and  ninety-six  squares:  and  in  about 
two-thirds  of  them  sat  human  skulls,  with  their  hollow  and  eye- 
less sockets,  and  their  long  lipless  teeth,  glaring  and  gnashing  in 
your  face.  The  interior  was  full  of  bones,  of  which  there  musf 
have  been  several  cart  loads.  Out  of  many  of  the  squares  pro- 
jected long  arm  and  leg  bones,  with  wreaths  of  withered  flowers 
hung  on  them ;  or  supporting  a  little  plate  of  metal,  or  a  piece 
of  board,  with  the  name  of  the  person  to  whom  tiie  bone  once 


FOREIGN    TRAVEL.  145 

appertained,  upon  it.  Some  of  the  skulls  had  the  names,  and 
dates  of  birth  and  death  written  on  them.  Others  were  filled 
with  pencil  marks,  the  names  I  supposed  of  transient  visitors  to 
she  horrid  charnel  house.  Religion  was  intended  to  refine  and 
humanize  the  soul  of  man,  while  it  enlightened  his  judgment, 
and  above  all  sanctified  his  conscience.  But  here  is  a  code 
which  teaches  its  votaries  to  worship  the  bones  of  pretended 
saints,  v/ho  never  were,  or  had  better  never  have  been ;  and 
permits  them  to  expose  and  to  neglect  the  relics  which  have  a 
sacred  claim  upon  our  care  for  their  decent  sepulture,  and  respect- 
ful preservation.  Who  was  St.  Oswald,  that  1  should  worship 
the  bone  of  a  pig's  foot  set  in  gold,  and  sworn  to  be  his  toe ! — 
And  who  shall  dare  to  teach  me  in  the  name  of  God,  that  my 
father's  dust  may  be  dishonoured  without  shame  ;  m^?  brother's 
mortal  part  exposed  like  a  dog's  carcase,  to  the  idle  gaze  of 
every  passer  by ! 

From  Zug  to  Luzern  there  are  two  roads.  We  followed  the 
one  which  kept  the  left  shore  of  the  lake,  and  passed  at  the  foot 
«f  Mont  Rigi.  The  road  is  one  of  the  best  in  Switzerland — the 
drive  of  six  leagues  is  one  of  the  most  romantic  and  delightful 
in  the  world. 

Before  the  southern  end  of  the  lake  is  reached,  you  have 
already  passed  out  of  the  Canton  of  Zug,  into  that  of  Schwytz, 
Tiiis  Canton  was  one  of  the  three  which  originated  the  Swiss 
confederation,  and  laid  the  foundation  of  its  independence.  It 
has  had  the  fortune  to  give  its  own  appellation  to  the  whole 
country  ;  for  Helvetia,  is  nearly  forgotten  in  Switzerland.  It  is 
situated  between  the  lakes  of  Zug,  Zurich,  and  Waldstetten ; 
and  would  be  considered  a  vast  aggregation  of  mountains,  in 
any  other  country.  But  as  not  one  of  its  high  and  numerous 
elevations  reaches  to  the  altitude  at  which  eternal  snow  reigns, 
that  is,  to  a  height  of  8,000  feet ;  its  inhabitants  describe  it  as  a 
country  of  meadov/s  and  alpine  pastures.  It  is  of  considerable 
extent,  as  compared  with  some  of  the  other  Cantons;  but 
possesses  only  32,000  souls,  nearly  all  of  whom  profess  the 
Catholic  religion.  They  are  an  extremely  interesting  people ; — 
simple,  poor,  and  full  of  peculiarities,  of  dress,  language  and 
Vol.  n.--14 


146  MEMORANDA    OF 

manners :  and  it  is  very  probable  that  some  of  their  retired  set- 
tlements, as  well  as  some  of  those  of  the  neighbouring  Canton 
0^  Uri,  are  an  identical  people  with  the  ancient  Goths.  In 
nearly  all  the  Cantons,  however,  there  are  found  small  and 
obscure  settlements,  speaking  languages  which  the  ready  igno- 
rance of  modern  times  has  designated  under  the  general  name 
of  patois ;  but  which  on  more  careful  and  more  enlightened 
search  are  found  to  be  the  precious  relics  of  an  almost  extin- 
guished antiquity.  Thus  there  seems  no  doubt  that  what  is 
called  a  corrupt  dialect  of  the  present  German,  in  many  of  the 
villages  of  Zurich  and  Bern  is  the  pure  language  of  the  ancient 
Almans.  The  aboriginal  Celtic  is  still  retained  in  some  parts 
of  the  Vallais,  The  ancient  Rhetian  is  spoken  at  the  village  of 
Ilanz,  on  the  upper  Rhine,  in  the  Grisons;  while  the  common 
language  of  the  lower  classes  in  that  large  Canton,  is  no  other 
than  the  ancient  Provencal,  consecrated  to  poetry  and  religion. 
The  pecuhar  dialect  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  valley  of  Mutlathal 
in  Schwytz,  and  of  one  or  two  small  communities  in  Uri,  is  most 
probably  the  ancient  Gothic.  The  prevailing  language  of  all 
ihe  Cantons  may  be  called  a  corrupt  German  ;  while  the  French 
and  Italian  prevail  in  those  Cantons  bordering  on  the  two 
countries  respectively. 

At  the  end  of  the  lake  of  Zug,  on  the  south-west  a  sweet 
valley  opens  before  the  traveller,  between  Ruffiberg  on  his  left, 
and  thp  famous  Rigi  on  his  right.  Not  many  leagues  off  is 
Einsiedlen,  where  Zwingle  was  Cur^  before  he  removed  to 
Zurich ;  and  where  the  light  of  Divine  truth  burst  upon  his 
acute,  candid,  and  richly  stored  mind.  The  most  remarkable 
thing  I  heard  about  the  place  of  late  years  is,  that  the  Abbe  of 
a  convent  of  Benedictine  monks  in  it,  some  years  ago,  twice 
refused  a  prelacy  offered  to  him  by  the  Pope. 

Near  the  spot  where  this  valley  appears  upon  the  lake,  stand 
the  ruins  of  the  village  of  Goldau,  made  remarkable  by  the 
fearful  avalanche,  which  overwhelmed  it  and  its  immediate 
neighbourhood,  in  the  night  of  the  2d  of  Sept.  1806.  About 
five  o'clock  in  the  morning,  the  summit  of  Ruffiberg  fell  with 
devaf:lating  fury  on  the  devoted  region  ;  and  in  an  instant  con- 


S^OREIfiN  TRAVEL.  147 

"vetted  a  delicious  garden  into  a  frightful  desert.  They  who  went 
to  their  rest  happy  and  rich,  waked  broken-hearted  and  in 
beggary.  They  who  laid  their  heads  on  their  couches  in  full 
health  and  perfect  security,  heard  but  one  piercing  shriek,  or 
heard  nothing, — felt  but  one  thrill  of  unutterable  anguish,  or 
felt  nothing, — and  passed  away  forever  !  It  is  a  fearful  thing  to 
liill  into  the  hands  of  the  living  God. 

Several  churches,  above  a  hundred  dwelling  houses,  and  more 
than  double  as  many  smaller  houses  not  inhabited,  were  utterly 
destroyed,  by  ihe  enormous  ruins  which  formed  a  new  mountain, 
in  the  midst  of  the  valley.  Four  hundred  persons  perished 
miserably,  and  less  than  half  that  number,  the  miserable  rem- 
nant of  a  ruined  city,  deprived  of  their  families,  their  friends, 
their  country,  and  their  means  of  subsistence;  scattered  them- 
selves over  the  earth,  as  if  to  carry  into  every  land,  in  their  heart 
broken  pilgrimage,  the  knowledge  of  the  consummate  ruin  to 
which  every  creature  might  in  a  moment  be  devoted !  What 
land,  what  city,  what  village,  has  not  been  visited  by  real  or 
pretended  victims  of  the  avalanche  of  Goldau  r 

Eigi,  whixjh  I  have  once  or  twice  namedj  is  one  of  the  most 
remarkable  mountains  in  Europe.  It  is  situated  on  the  raaro-in 
vv'hich  separates  the  region  of  plains  from  that  of  mountains— 
and  while  it  comes  far  short  of  the  alpine  summits  to  the  south, 
it  towers  far  above  any  point  of  the  extended  region  of  hill 
and  plain,  towards  the  north.  Its  location  is  at  the  #uthern 
end  of  lake  Zug ;  while  its  own  southern  and  western  bases  are 
washed  by  the  Waldsetten  See.  It  reaches  an  elevation  of  5,220 
feet  above  the  Mediterranean  Sea;  and  its  base  and  sides  and 
immediate  vicinity,  enjoy  one  of  the  most  delightful  climates  and 
fruitful  soils  in  Switzerland.  Its  length  is  about  four  leagues 
from  east  to  west,  and  its  breadth  about  two  leagues  from  north 
to  south ;  from  which  base  it  rises  like  a  vast  pyramid,  on  whose 
>summit  is  often  exhibited  the  beautiful  phenomenon  of  the 
Mirage ;  Nebelbild,  as  they  call  it  in  their  own  speech.  It  could 
hardly  be  expected  that  such  an  object  in  such  a  country  could 
escape  being  devoted  to  superstitious  uses.  High  up  on  Rigi  is 
La  Chapelle  de  A^olre-Dame-des-jsrieges,  (our  Lady  of  the 


14S  MEMORAJTDA    OF 

Snows),  founded  in  1689,  by  Sebastian  Zay,  of  the  village  oT 
Art,  at  its  eastern  foot.  Nature  did  much;  and  extraordinary 
indulgencies  from  successive  popes  accomplished  the  rest.  The 
Chapelle  of  our  Lady  of  Snows  is  a  place  of  frequent  pilgrim- 
age.  It  is  extremely  remarkable  that  ihe  Virgin  Mary  should 
be  supposed  to  possess  not  only  divine  powers,  as  omnipresence 
and  omniscience, — seeing  she  is  prayed  to  in  every  place  an(3 
every  tongue  at  the  same  moment;  but  she  is  invested  with  t^ 
power  not  attributed  in  the  same  religion  to  God  himself; — 
namely,  that  of  indefinite  self-multiplication,  so  as  to  produce 
radically  different  persons.  Thus  our  Lady  of  Loretto ;  our 
Lady  of  the  Snows;  our  Lady  los  Dolores,  who  is  Don  Carlos'^ 
divinity ;  and  I  know  not  how  many  hundreds  beside  ;  are  each 
a  Virgin  Mary,  but  each  a  different  one.  So  that  there  are 
many  hundreds,  perhaps  thousands,  of  the  same  virgin,.  aU 
different. 

It  is  perhaps  in  a  geological  point  of  view  that  Rigi  and  its 
neighbourliood  are  the  most  remarkable.  The  whole  region 
about  tbe'southern  end  of  Jake  Zug  is  full  of  breccia  ;  and  Moan* 
Rigi,  from  its  base  to  its  summit  is  composed  of  alternate  layer* 
of  it,  and  of  a  dark  freestone.  The  immense  borders  of  Rufii- 
berg  and  Steinberg,  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  valley  of  Goldau 
from  Rigi,  are  essentially  mountains  of  breccia,  or  nagleflue,  a;- 
the  people  of  the  country  call  it.  These  layers  of  breccia,  on 
the  side^  Mount  Ruffi,  where  the  road  along  the  lake  shore 
is  in  many  places  dug  along  its  foot,  are  of  various  thickness, 
from  three  or  four  to  twenty  or  thirty  feet.  But  on  the  steep, 
and  exposed  northern  side  of  Rigi,  they  assume  a  regularity 
almost  exact,  in  layers  that  appeared  at  the  great  elevation  at 
which  they  are  most  distinctly  visible,  to  be  about  four  feet 
thick.  At  this  point  great  sections  of  the  mountain  are  entirely 
bare,  and  exhibit  an  appearance  most  singularly  artificial.  If 
the  columnar  formation  of  basalt  on  the  northern  coast  of  Ire- 
land, is  to  be  compared  to  the  enormous  collonades  of  some 
gigantic  castle  :  we  may  content  ourselves  at  length  with  having 
found  his  walls  in  the  costly  masonry  of  these  Swiss  mountains. 
Where  the  sides  of  the  mountains  have  been  uncovered  for  the-. 


FOREIGN    TRAVEL.  149 

road  way,  or  where  f^reat  blocks  of  the  material  have  rolled 
down  in  the  vallies,  there  the  breccia  is  slowly  decomposed 
imder  the  action  of  the  elements.  In  all  these  numerous  speci- 
mens, the  red  pebble  greatly  predominates;  and  seemed  the 
hardest  of  the  i^roup.  This  struck  me  the  more,  as  pebbles  of 
that  colour  are  comparatively  rare,  in  all  the  strata  of  gravel, 
and  along  the  shores  of  the  lake  and  neighbouring  rivers. 

The  strata  of  which  Rigi  is  composed,  seemed  to  me  to  be 
very  much  disposed  after  the  exterior  figure  of  the  mountain 
itself:  sections  of  large  curves,  parallel  to  each  other,  and  all 
elevated  towards  the  north,  at  an  angle  of  about  twenty-two  de- 
grees. These  observations  were  made  by  the  eye  only  ;  and  by 
the  eye  confounded,  by  the  extreme  irregularity  of  the  position 
of  the  strata  in  this  part  of  Europe.  The  face  of  Mount  Albis 
on  the  side  as  you  come  from  Zurich,  presents  many  naked  pre- 
cipices ;  in  all  of  which  the  strata  are  distinctly  visible,  and  are 
perfectly  horizontal.  From  Cappel  at  the  foot  of  Albis  to  Art, 
beyond  Ruffiberg,  is  about  five  leagues.  Before  reaching  Art 
the  strata  of  Kuffiberg  are  in  some  places  nearly  vertical ;  and 
generally  elevated  considerably  to  the  east  of  north.  Those  of 
Rigi,  which  is  within  a  league  of  the  last  named  mountain,  have 
already  been  mentioned.  At  Luzern,  three  leagues  farther 
wes:,  the  strata  of  the  Musseg,  which  overlooks  the  town,  are 
inclined  about  twenty-two  degrees  towards  the  south,  from  a  ver- 
tical posture ;  or,  more  correctly  speaking,  are  elevated  three- 
quarters  of  a  right  angle  towards  the  south  ;  which  is  jirccisely 
the  reverse  of  the  strata  of  Ruffiberg.  Three  leagues  fartfjier 
westward,  Bramegg  presents  strata  precisely  horizontal,  and 
resembling  so  far  the  strata  of  Albis  ;  the  latter  being  limestone 
and  calcarious  earth  ;  the  former  sand  stone  and  clay.  But  pre- 
cisely vis-a-vis  to  Bramegg — the  north  front  of  Mount  Pilatus 
rises  5,760  feet  in  height,  with  strata  of  granite,  elevated  towards 
the  north,  about  as  much  as  those  of  Rigi;  but  unlike  the  curved 
strata  of  Rigi,— those  of  Pilatus  are  flat.  These  hills  and  moun- 
tains all  range  from  north-east  to  south-west,  in  a  line  not  above 
ten  leagues  long.  On  the  summit  of  Bramegg,  the  face  of  Pila- 
tus seems  almost  to  touch  you ;  the  masses  of  Rigi  and  Ruffi- 
14* 


150  MEMORANDA  OF 

berg  Jay  against  the  bosom  of  the  gigantic  and  snow-daxf  Afps 
behind  them,  with  an  outline  perfectly  distinct. 

f  had  nearly  forgotten,  in  this  narration,  the  Chapel  of  WiUiam' 
Tell,  which  constitutes  one  of  the  naost  interesting  objects  in  the 
region  of  which  I  am  speaking.  It  is  a  small,  solitary  buildings 
between  lake  Zug  and  lake  Waldstetten,  which  approach  within 
a  league  of  each  other,  situated  at  a  steep  defile  of  the  road,  and 
immediately  on  its  edge.  At  this  spot,  says  tradition,  Tell  slew 
the  tyrant  Gessler.  The  story  of  that  Austrian  bailiff  causing  st 
hat  to  be  set  up  on  a  pale  at  Altorf,  which  is  not  far  off,  before 
wliich  all  were  reqxjired  ta  make  obeisance ;  of  the  refusal  of 
William  Te?},  his  arrest,  his  condenmation  to  the  fearful  trial  of 
skill  in  archery,  and  the  success  of  that  trial ;  is  a  familiar  legendc 
The  narrative  prgceeds  to  add,  that  Gessler,  little  satisfied,  sought 
occasion  against  the  resolute  Swiss,  and  at  length  brought  him 
from  Altorf  towards  his  own  chateau,  whose  ruins  are  in  sight  of 
this  little  chape! ;  that  he  m:ght  be  confined,  or  at  least  watched. 
Tell  escaped  by  the  way,  and  instead  of  fleeing,  hastened  for- 
ward to  this  defile  ;  at  that  fine  old  tree  arranged  his  crossboWj 
corded  up  its  stiff  iron  bow— (they  show  it  still  at  Zurich)— and 
as  his  own  and  his  country's  oppressor  ascended  this  steep  pass, 
drove  an  arrow  through-and-through  him.  Over  the  door  of 
the  little  edifice,  protected  by  the  projecting  roof,  is  a  painting 
representing  the  scene,  and  below  it  the  following  lines  : 

Gessler's  hochmuth,  Teil,  erschlossea 
^   Unt  cdle  Schwitzer  freyheit  entsprossen 
Wie  lang  vird  aber  solche  vaercn 
Norcb  langcr  Ten  vir,  die  Ahen  vaercn. 

The  valley  of  Goldau  and  the  adjoining  shores  of  lake  Zug,.. 
where  it  opens  upon  them,  afforded  the  first  clear  and  wide  view 
1  had  enjoyed,  pretty  near  at  hand  of  the  majestic  Alps.  From 
the  foot  of  Rigi,  looking  beliind  you,  over  the  village  of  Art,  the 
valley  is  sliut  in  only  by  the  enormous  mountains  of  Glarus 
Appcnzall  and  the  Grisons;  between  which,  and  the  spot  you 
occupy,  the  lower  ranges  of  Sclnvytz  and  Uri,  rise  in  gradual 
and  beautiful  succession.  The  multitudes  of  the  summits  may 
be  imagined  from  the  fact,  that  on  one  of  the  bridges  of  Luzern 
there  is  an  arranged  diagram,  which  points  out  to  you,  from  the 


FOREIGN    TRAVEL,  151 

sin<^le  spot,  twenty-seven  summits ;  of  which  Rigi  and  Pilatus 
are  amongst  the  nearest  and  lowest,  and  of  which  some  of  the 
most  easterly  reach  the  stupendous  elevation  of  1,500  toises,  of 
ten  feet  to  the  toise  :  the  name,  distance,  and  elevation  of  each 
being  furnished  in  the  diagram.  Many  of  these  summits  are 
covered  with  eternal  snow ;  and  already,  though  but  the  first 
day  of  October,  the  region  of  snow  had  commenced  its  descent, 
and  the  ranges  of  the  second  and  third  class,  Avere  arrayed  in 
the  frozen  vestments  which  they  wear  for  nine  months  of  every 
year.  It  is  impossible  to  convey  any  adequate  idea  of  those 
glorious  objects.  You  are  in  the  midst  of  the  first  ripe  fruits  of 
autumn.  The  children  are  gathering  the  chesnut  and  the  pear 
together;  and  the  grape  is  soliciting  the  time  of  vintage,  upon 
these  narrow  and  delicious  shores.  Lift  up  your  eyes,  and  the 
green  pastures  of  the  neighbouring  mountain  sides  are  full  of 
herds  of  catde,  whose  bells  mingle  with  the  sounds  of  content, 
v/hich  fill  the  earth  and  the  air,  at  the  happy  hour  of  eventide. 
From  whatever  land  you  come,  there  is  above  this  but  the  blue 
heavens  and  the  bright  clouds  which  decorate  the  sunset.  Be- 
hold those  terrible  figures,  whose  magnitude  and  severity  would 
overwhelm  you,  if  it  were  not  for  the  exquisite  grace  which  dis- 
tance gives  to  their  outline,  of  which  every  deformity  is  covered 
by  a  vesture  so  soft  and  rich,  that  the  unpractised  eye  does  not 
immediately  decide  which  are  Alps  and  which  the  clouds,  through 
which  they  always  pierce.  There  is  a  grain  of  the  finest  sand 
at  thy  feet.  How  insignificant  a  material  object  compared  with 
thee  !  There  is  Rigi  at  thy  side.  How  art  thou  as  nothing  in 
comparison  of  its  uplifted  greatness  !  And  what  is  it  to  St. 
Gothard,  or  St.  Bernard  ;  or  they  to  the  footstool,  or  it  to  the 
throne  of  God  ! — Glorious,  all-pervading,  unseen  intelligence,  u'ho 
inhabitcst  eternity,  and  fiUest  immensity!  Uncreated,  imper- 
ishable, irresistible,  mysterious  Spirit;  whose  existence  is  only 
less  inscrutible  than  the  possibility  of  thy -non-existence  !  Pity 
us,  as  we  stand  awed  into  a  sense  of  our  own  insignificance,  in 
the  midst  of  one  outwork  of  thy  great  and  beautiful  creation  ! 
Blessed  be  thy  name  for  the  certainty,  and  the  assurance  thou 
hast  added  thereto,  that  he  in  whose  sight  nothing  is  great — 
■does  not  and  cannot  esteem  any  thing  small ! 


152  MEMORANDA   OF 


CHAPTER    XVI 


Die  Vier  Waldstetten— Origin  of  the  Swiss  Confederacy  and  Independence— Ca- 
ton  Luzem— Agriculture  of  the  Central  Cantons— City  and  Lake  of  Luzem 
—The  Vast  Chaia  of  the  Alps— Public  Worship — Bridges— National  Curiosity— 
The  Lion  of  Thorwaidsen. 


The  four  cantons  of  Uri,  Undervvald,  Schwytz  and  Luzern, 
were  long  known,  as  Die  Vier  Waldstetten, — the  Four  Forest 
States;  or  more  fa  miliary,  as  they  are  even  yet  designated,  the 
Country  of  William  Tell.  They  lie  around  the  Waldstetten  See, 
or  lake  of  the  Four  Cantons  ;  Luzern  and  Schwyts  on  the  north, 
and  Underwald  and  Uri  on  the  south.  In  all  these  Cantons  the 
Catholic  religion  predominates,  and  the  spiritual  condition  of  the 
people  is  probably  less  altered  by  the  events  of  the  reformation^ 
than  most  other  portions  of  Switzerland.  Secluded,  poor,  and  little 
enterprising  ;  but  cheerful,  brave,  and  impatient  of  foreign  domi- 
nation; they  would  be  almost  unknown  to  the  rest  of  mankind, 
if  their  country  were  not  from  its  location  in  the  very  centre  of 
Europe,  sometimes  the  theatre  of  war,  and  incessantly  of  travel. 
Tlie  whole  four  Cantons  contain  somewhat  less  than  170,000 
souls,  of  which  Luzern  alone  has  100,000.  The  physical  char- 
acter of  their  whole  territory  is  essentially  the  same  ;  wild,  bro- 
ken and  romantic — sometimes  exceedingly  beautiful,  and  still 
oftener  savage  to  the  last  degree;  a  country  of  woods,  and  hills, 
and  valleys,  and  terrific  mountains,  and  inaccissable  fasmesses; 
cut  and  drained  by  small  rivers  and  lakes,  as  pure  and  clear  as 
the  everlasting  glacieres  which  create  and  nourish  them.  It  is 
the  cradle  of  the  liberties  of  modern  Europe.    And  little  risk  i& 


FOREIGN    TRAVEL,  153 

mcurred  in  predictinor  that  if  those  liberties  perish,  the  vallies  of 
Die  Vier  Waldstetten  are  as  apt  as  any  to  be  iheir  grave ;  and 
the  descendents  of  the  Almans  the  last  who  will  make  their  ob- 
sequies memorable. 

Burglen,  in  the  Canton  of  Uri,  was  the  birth  place  of  Tell: 
and  GrUtli  in  that  of  Unterwalden,  was  the  spot  at  which  the 
founders  of  the  liberties  ot  Switzerland,  matured  their  purposes. 
Les  trois  Swiss—or,  Die  Drey  Schwitzcr — according  as  the 
speech  be  French  or  German,  are  words  in  every  mouth  :  and 
no  painting  is  so  common,  in  all  the  Cantons,  as  some  re- 
presentation of  The  Three  Swiss— Werner  Slauffacher,  of 
Steinen  in  Schwytz ;  Erric  (or  Arnold)  an  der  Haider  of  Mech- 
thal  in  Unterwalden  ;  and  Walter  FUrstof  Attinghausen  in  Uri, 
met  from  night  to  night,  at  Griitli,  to  bewail  their  own  and  their 
country's  wrongs — and  to  mature  their  desperate  plans  for  their 
redress.  There  they  bound  themselves  to  each  other  by  the 
most  solemn  oaths,  to  free  their  country  or  perish.- -Walter  of 
Attino-hausen  W3C  the  fathci-iu-law  uf  William  Tell;  and  the 
tower  of  Altorf,  in  which  that  hero  was  incarcerated,  was  in  full 
view  of  his  own  dwelling  place.  It  is  detracting  nothing  from 
the  worth  of  these  patriots  to  suppose — that  they  caught  from  the 
more  intrepid  and  free  spirit  of  Tell,  much  of  that  ardour  and 
constancy  which  crowned  their  efforts  with  success  ;  and  made 
them  in  effect  not  only  the  liberators  of  their  own  narrow  Can- 
tons— but  the  founders  of  the  Swiss  confederation.  The  Helve- 
tique  league  seems  to  have  been  proclaimed  in  1315:  whereas 
Tell  had  slain  Gessler  seven  years  before.  There  is  at  Brunnen 
i:i  Unterwalden  this  inscription  :  Hier  geschah  der  ersie  ewige 
Bund,  anno  1315,  die  Grundfeste  der  Schweilz :  'Here  wus  the 
first  perpetual  league,  the  foundation  of  Switzerland.' 

The  Canton  Luzern,  is  situated  almost  in  the  centre  of  Swit- 
zerland, and  is  one  of  the  most  fertile  of  them  all.  It  is  one  of 
the  three  presiding  Cantons.  The  Swiss  Diet,  meets  alternately  at 
Bern,  Zurich,  and  Luzern,  holding  two  annual  sessions  in  succes- 
sion, at  each  place.  Our  road  led  through  the  entire  length  of  the 
Canton,  from  lake  Zug  on  the  north  east,  to  the  rich  vale  of  Em- 
raenthal  in  Bern  on  the  south  west.  It  is  a  country  of  rich  hill 
sides  and  pleasant  vallies ;  the  former  never  mounting  up  to  the  ter- 


154  MEMORANDA    OF 

rible  region  of  eternal  snows,  and  the  latter  never  shut  up  in  the 
deep  seclusion,  which  prevails  over  the  other  forest  Cantons. 
The  people  employ  themselves  entirely  in  the  care  of  their  cattle^ 
which  abound  in  every  part  of  Switzerland ;  or  in  the  culture  of 
the  soil.  This  is  indeed  the  general  character  of  the  central  and 
northern  Cantons.  I  did  not  see  a  single  tolerably  large  flock  of 
sheep  in  Switzerland  ;  and  wool  is  comparatively  scarce  and  dear, 
what  exists  being  coarse,  and  most  usually  of  a  black  or  grey  co- 
lour. Hemp  is  every  where  cultivated  for  their  own  use ;  and  is 
the  staple  of  their  household  manufactures.  The  grape  also  is  un-^ 
known  in  these  fertile  but  elevated  regions.  I  did  not  see  a  sin- 
gle vineyard,  from  lake  Zug  to  lake  Leman;  though  in  the  in- 
terval I  passed  through  the  heart  of  four  large  and  fertile  Cantons 
— occupying  perhaps  half  of  ihe  best  country  of  the  confederal 
tion.  It  is  scarcely  proper  to  call  it  a  wine  country.  For  al-^ 
though  some  Cantons  cultivate  the  grape  extensively,  their  wine 
is  usually  inierior,  and  seldom  their  chief  staple.  It  is  land 
of  cattle  and  bees,  a  land  of  milk  ana  nuuey.  iionp.y  ;.s!  in  profu- 
sion every  where,  and  of  the  most  delicious  quahty  ;  cattle  of  a 
peculiar  race,  unlike  any  I  have  seen  elsewhere,  of  dun  or  black 
colour,  with  small  horns  drooped  backwards,  high  withers,  al- 
ways fat  and  perhaps  therefore  beautiful,  constitute  the  real 
wealth  of  the  rural  population  of  Switzerland.  The  country  is 
a  country  of  pasturage,  and  at  an  elevation  where  the  ground  ia 
no  longer  tilled,  the  rich  and  nutritious  Alpine  pasturages,  sus- 
tain multitudes  of  as  beautiful  cattle  as  are  to  be  found  in  the 
world.  The  cheeses  of  Switzerland  are  famous  over  the  world, 
and  I  found  again  and  again  lilile  districts,  in  which  cheeses  1 
had  seen  or  heard  praised  all  my  life  as  German — were,  so  to 
speak  indigenous.  I  have  eaten  Gruyeres  and  Scherpzeger  (the 
latter  is  so  called  from  a  word  which  signifies  to  grate,)  again 
and  again  out  of  thq  hands  that  made  them. 

The  town  of  Luzern  stands  at  the  western  extremity  of  the 
Waldstetten  lake,  which  amongst  its  several  appellations  receives 
also  that  of  the  lake  of  Luzern.  At  this  point  the  river  Reuss 
issues  in  a  bold,  deep  and  rapid  stream  from  the  lake  ;  and  is 
adorned,  as  the  Limath  is  at  Zurich,  with  a  large  stone  lower  of 


FOREIGN    TRAVEL.  155 

considerable  height  and  great  antiquity,  located  about  the  centre 
of  the  stream.  The  surface  of  the  lake  is  1,320  leet  above  the 
level  of  the  sea.  It  is  six  leagues  long,  and  of  a  width  varying 
at  every  step — but  if  one  should  not  count  its  projecting  arme, 
never  very  considerable.  Its  depth  is  above  600  feet,  in  many 
places.  This  is  the  most  picturesque  of  all  the  Swiss  lakes.  No- 
thing can  be  more  varied  and  magnificent  than  the  views  which 
its  shores  constantly  afford.  From  any  open  spot  about  Lu- 
zern,  the  eye  ranges  over  a  landscape,  which  out  of  Switzerland 
the  whole  world  cannot  furnish.  In  front  is  the  lake  winding  far 
away  between  promontories  that  rise  up  out  of  the  very  waters, 
and  in  the  distance  hide  them  by  their  deep  blue  shadows.  On 
the  left  is  the  bay  of  Kursnacht,  surmounted  by  the  beautiful 
pyramid  of  Rigi ;  on  the  right,  the  ragged  and  barren  summits 
of  Pilatus.  Around  you  is  the  town  itself,  seated  on  both  sides 
of  the  Reuss,  in  a  narrow  vale  ;  surrounded  with  walls  and  tow- 
ers, and  hills  that  mock  their  puny  dimensions.  But  far  off,  be- 
yond the  shores  of  the  lake,  through  the  vista  which  it  opens,  is 
that  range  of  eternal  Alps;  which  gives  to  all  the  scenery  of  Swit- 
zerland, a  character  of  such  majesty,  such  sublime  repose.  That 
fixed,  frozen,  changeless  glory;,  towering  out  of  the  reach  of 
earth  ;  cold  as  the  brow  of  death,  even  beneath  the  overwhelm- 
ing radiance  of  a  world  of  light,  whose  reflection  makes  every 
valley  beneath  them  rejoice.  It  is  not  a  single  summit ;  not  even 
a  single  mountain,  nor  one  chain  of  mountains,  it  is  a  world  of 
ice  and  snow,  and  rocks,  and  wooded  precipices  ;' all  in  that  or- 
der counting  downwards  from  the  top.  Its  fearful  height,  begin- 
ning at  your  feet  and  rising  away — away — to  the  clouds — to  the 
very  heavens  ;  so  far — so  wide — such  a  terriffic  pile — range  be- 
yond range — ending  you  know  not  where.  And  then  its  vast 
prolongation.  To  the  east — to  the  west — the  same  measure- 
less deptii — the  same  interminable  abyss.  I  have  travelled  along 
its  base  for  whole  weeks  together;  and  at  every  elevation  from 
which  I  could  command  its  awful  proportions,  I  seemed  no  farther 
removed  from  what  I  saw  there — no  nearer  to  the  end  of  its  ca- 
reer here.  Stretching  from  the  Mediterranean  far  beyond  the 
most  distant  portions  of  Hungary,  and  seated  upon  a  base  eighty 


156  MEMORANDA    OF 

leagues  in  width,  of  what  should  be  the  finest  portions  ofEurope 
— it  is  altogether  the  most  astonishing  physical  object  which  the 
world  affords. 

We  spent  a  sabbath  day  in  Luzern.  It  is  a  place  of  six  or 
seven  thousand  souls,  and  eight  Catholic  churches  and  convents; 
of  which,  as  in  most  considerable  towns  in  Switzerland  the  Jesu- 
its have  their  full  share.  1  was  not  able  to  ascertain  that  there 
was  any  kind  of  Protestant  service  in  the  place;  and  the  whole 
population  seems  as  completely  Catholic,  as  their  neighbours  of 
Zurich  or  Bern  are  Protestant.  It  is  extremely  curious  how  an 
imaginary  line  often  decides,  what  reason  and  conscience  alone 
should  settle;  and  exerts  an  influence  over  us,  that  throws  con- 
tempt upon  our  boasted  powers.  In  Zurich  a  child  would  laugh 
at  holy  water  and  the  counting  of  beads,  and  consider  the  wor- 
ship of  the  host  as  absolute  insanity.  In  Luzern  the  whole  pop- 
ulation seemed  to  give  itself  up  most  reverently  and  seriously, 
during  the  greater  part  of  the  sabbatli  day,  to  these  and  similar 
acts  of  religious  worship.  This  praise  at  least,  is  justly  their  due, 
that  they  pay  an  unusual  outward  regard,  for  their  sect,  to  the 
sabbath  chy ;  and  that  they  seem  deeply  in  earnest,  in  their 
misguided  worship.  I  was  for  a  considerable  time  in  two  of 
their  churches ;  the  Cathedral,  dedicated  to  Saint  Leger,  which 
is  rather  out  of  town,  and  another  church  in  it ;  perhaps  an  hour 
in  each.  There  was  nothing  like  an  attempt  to  instruct  the  peo- 
ple, or  even  to  read  the  Word  of  God  to  them  in  either.  Indeed 
the  second  time  there  was  nothing  done  at  all — except  the  light- 
ing of  lamps  and  the  moving  of  tables  from  place  to  place,  and 
the  walking  in  and  out  of  the  servitors  for  about  an  hour;  during 
which  a  house  full  of  people,  seemed  patiently  to  expect  some 
issue  which  I  despaired  of,  and  went  my  way.  But  I  saw  vene- 
rable women  and  men  diligently  engaged  in  counting  glass  beads 
on  a  long  string;  and  I  thought  it  a  singular  employment  for 
respectable  old  people — especially  on  the  sabbath  day  and  at 
church.  I  saw  persons  of  all  ranks  and  ages,  as  they  entered 
the  house,  dip  their  fingers  in  a  vessel  of  water,  several  of  which 
were  dispersed  in  different  parts  of  the  church  ;  and  then  rever- 
ently apply  it  to  their  foreheads,  their  mouths,  their  breasts,  and 


FOREIGN    TRAVEd..  157 

their  abdomens.  Many  seemed  to  think  they  had  gotten  too 
much-;  for  they  applied  their  wet  fingers  to  others,  who  had 
none.  And  all,  while  in  the  act  of  dipping  in  the  fingers,  crossed 
their  legs  by  putting  the  right  loot  behind  the  left;  and  courtesied 
by  bending  the  left  knee  forward.  This  at  least  is  clear;  reli- 
gion is  an  indestructible  necessity  of  the  human  soul.  The  mind 
may  be  darkened — the  judgment  perverted-^the  imagination 
heated — the  passions  excited  ;  and  thus  all  sorts  of  degrading  and 
horrible  substitutes  be  palmed  upon  us,  as  a  worship  acceptable 
to  our  Creator.  But  it  is  precisely  because  the  profound  senti- 
ment of  religion  in  the  soul,  is  s<uperior  to  the  passions,  anterior 
to  knowledge,  and  active  and  constant  even  beyond  the  imagina- 
tion itself;  that  it  will  feed  upon  what  they  all  reject— or  be 
nourished  by  their  vilest  ministrations — and  survive  their  general 
torpor  ;  rather  than  be  extinct  itself.  It  is  a  truth  I  have  learn- 
ed in  the  midst  of  sorrow  and  brokenness  of  heart,  over  the  ruin 
of  immortal  beings.  And  while  I  have  not  ceased  to  implore  the 
Lord  to  remember  in  tender  mercy,  those  so  wofully  misled  by 
its  strong  impulses,  in  the  midst  of  adverse  circumstances;  I 
have  rejoiced  in  the  new  strength,  I  felt  imparted  by  this  truth, 
to  every  effort  for  the  salvation  of  my  fellow  worms.  Let  us 
rely  on  it,  as  an  undoubted  truth,  that  men  know  they  are  sin- 
ners. Let  us  teach  the  way  of  salvation— with  an  engrossing 
sense,  that  the  most  abiding  want  of  the  soul  is  thus  only  and 
thus  fully  to  be  suppHed. 

Amongst  the  objects  of  interest  at  Luzern,  the  bridges  deserve 
special  notice.  There  are  four  of  these,  of  which  three  are  thrown 
over  the  river  Reuss,  and  the  fourth  over  a  kind  of  arm  of  the 
lake.  This  last,  which  is  the  longest  of  all,  and  two  of  the  others 
are  covered  and  crooked;  being  intended  entirely  for  foot  pas- 
sengers. They  are  decorated  in  a  very  singular  way,  with 
-paintings  of  a  triangular  form,  placed  above  the  heads  of  the  pas- 
sengers, and  presenting  a  double  face ;  so  that  the  people  who 
pass  in  opposite  directions,  see  very  different  series  of  paintings. 
The  Mill  Bridge,  so  called  from  being  an  appendage  to  the  city 
mills,  is  as  old  as  1403 ;  it  is  three  hundred  feet  long,  and  decor- 
ated with  thirty  double  tablets,  exhibiting  double  that  number  of 
Vol.  II.— 15 


158  MEMORANDA    OF 

designs ;  of  which  the  principal  are  copies  from  Holbien's  Dance 
of  Death.  The  Chapel  Bridge,  so  called  for  a  reason  like  the 
last,  was  constructed  in  1303,  and  is  a  thousand  feet  long.  It  is 
adorned  with  a  hundred  and  fifty  paintings;  of  which  above  half 
illustrate  incidents  in  the  history  of  the  country,  and  the  rest  the 
famous  acts  of  St.  Leser  and  St.  Maurice,  the  patrons  of  the  city. 
The  Bridge  of  the  Court,  is  still  longer  and  still  more  adorned; 
being  thirteen  hundred  and  eighty  feet  long,  and  decorated  with 
two  hundred  and  thirty  eight  scriptural  and  apocryphal  sub- 
jects. Upon  one  of  the  bridges,  is  a  very  small  chapel ;  and  upon 
all,  images  of  some  kind,  enclosed  and  protected,  but  fully  exposed 
for  veneration. 

In  examining  these  bridges,  I  was  made  acquainted  with  an- 
other peculiarity  of  the  place.  We  have  in  the  middle  and  west- 
ern states  of  America,  a  small  duck  of  peculiarly  timid  and  wild 
habits,  commonly  called  the  Didapper.  Tliese  fowls  are  rare  in 
the  region  in  which  I  had  considered  them  peculiar ;  and  I  had 
never  seen  them  elsewhere.  At  Luzern,  I  saw  more  of  them 
than  I  had  seen  altogether  in  my  hfe  before ;  and  perfectly  do- 
mesticated. Hundreds  of  them  were  swimming  about  the 
bridges,  and  collected  in  flocks  on  throwing  pieces  of  paper,  or 
any  slight  thing  into  the  water.  They  are  a  small,  graceful  bird, 
of  a  pale  lead  colour  ;  and  these  had  all  a  while  spot  on  the  front 
of  the  head.  The  extreme  clearness  of  the  water  in  all  these 
mountain  lakes — exhibited  their  long  yellow  legs  and  broad 
webbed  feet,  in  strong  contrast  with  their  short,  curved  fishing 
bills.  The  matter  interested  me  a  good  deal ;  but  I  found  no  one 
able  or  willing  to  give  any  information  about  them.  Indeed  I 
soon  found  that  the  worthy  citizens  thought  it  far  more  odd  that 
a  stranger  should  interest  himself  about  their  ducks — than  I  did 
that  they  should  know  nothing  about  them. 

And  yet  upon  the  whole  they  seemed  to  interest  themselves  in 
the  movements  of  strangers  in  their  good  city,  to  a  degree  that 
is  rather  surprising,  considering  what  multitudes  annually  flock 
thither.  They  who  travel  soon  become  accustomed  to  the  ordi- 
nary forms  of  curiosity.  But  the  people  of  Luzern  gratify  theirs 
in  a  way  quite  their  own,  so  fariis  my  experience  has  yet  gone. 
Asking  questions  about  the  name,  residence,  business>  Stc.  of  a  tra^ 


FOREIGN    TRAVEL.  159 

vt'ller,  is  a  tljinjT  purely  American.  I  have  answered  more  such 
interrogatories  in  one  hour  in  my  own  country,  than  I  ever  heard 
asked  at  any  one,  elsewhere.  It  is  to  be  observed,  that  in  all 
parts  of  Europe,  the  records  made  at  the  hotels,  or  by  the  police, 
go  a  ojreat  way  towards  furnishing  confirmed  gossips,  with  what 
they  obtain  by  word  of  mouth  in  America.  And  besides,  it  is 
not  so  easy  to  get  information,  when  the  great  majority  of  those 
questioned  are  ignorant  of  the  language  they  are  interrogated  in; 
as  is  the  case  with  travellers  in  most  places  on  the  continent.  At 
least  we  may  solace  ourselves  with  the  reflection,  that  the  rather 
uncivil  curiosity  of  individuals  in  America,  is  confined  to  a  small, 
end  that  the  least  enlightened  class  of  our  people ;  whereas  in 
Europe  it  is  a  matter  of  state,  regulated  by  cabinets,  and  pursued 
for  the  sole  benefit  of  the  great'  There  is  no  idler  in  America 
who  asks  a  poor  traveller  who  falls  into  his  power,  the  tenth  part 
of  the  rude  questions;  that  every  king,  prince  and  potentate  on 
the  continent  will  force  you  to  answer,  yea  and  to  prove  that  you 
answer  truly — and  that  repeatedly,  before  you  can  enter  the  city 
in  which  his  august  body  is  fed  and  lodged.  Nay  they  often  do 
what  our  ill  manners  at  the  worst  would  scorn.  I  have  seen 
them  search  trunks  and  boxes  of  men  and  women;  and  heard  of 
their  searching  their  persons  ! — But  at  Luzern  they  do  the  bu- 
siness very  quietly  and  civilly.  They  only  place  mirrors  on  the 
outside  of  their  windows,  at  such  an  angle  that  a  person  in  the 
house  can  see  all  who  pass  along  the  principal  streets,  and  re- 
sorts of  strangers.  Some  have  one  only ;  in  which  case  they  see 
you  only  as  you  approach  or  as  you  depart.  In  this  case,  how- 
ever, one  look  is  not  always  satisfactory;  and  a  head  projected 
from  the  window  testifies  at  once  the  curiosity  and  defective  ar- 
rangement for  its  gratification.  Many  however  have  two  glasses 
placed  on  either  side  of  the  window ;  and  thus  the  fair  faces  of 
the  indwellers  need  only  turn  from  right  to  left  or  left  to  right — 
and  more  fortunate  than  the  lady  who  watched  the  *'  Stout  Gen- 
tleman," ihey  get  a  view  of  the  rear  which  she  was  hardly  con- 
tent with — and  one  of  the  front  also,  which  in  her  case  was  de- 
nied to  her  longing  eyes.  Tliis  street-gazing  is  rather  a  common 
quality  in  several  parts  of  Switzerland.     At  Bern  all  the  better 


160  MEMORANDA    OF 

sort  of  houses  are  provided  with  cushions,  to  recline  on,  in  the 
thick  window  sills  of  the  second  and  third  stories  ;  and  you  will 
not  pass  a  street,  if  tiie  weather  is  tolerably  good,  without  find- 
ing persons  of  both  sexes,  and  every  age,  engaged  in  the  com- 
mendable work  of  lolling  upon  them,  with  their  heads  out  of 
doors,  and  their  eyes  wandering  in  search  of  prey. 

I  should  not  omit  to  mention,  a  monument,  of  exceeding  beau- 
ty and  rather  decided  nationality,  which  is  found  at  Luzern.  It 
is  called  the  Lion  of  Thorwaldsen,  and  is  intended  to  commemo- 
rate the  fidelity  and  courage  of  the  Swiss  guard  of  Louis  XVI. 
on  the  memorable  days  of  August,  1 79^^  It  was  projected  by  M. 
de  Phyffer,  a  patriotic  Swiss ;  the  model  given  by  Thorwaldsen 
at  Rome ;  the  work  done  by  Ahorn,,  a  young  artist  of  Constance  ; 
and  paid  for  by  a  sort  of  national  subsidy.  It  is  a  colossal  lion, 
whose  }ength  is  twenty-eight  feet,  and  his  height,  if  he  stood 
erect,  would  be  eighteen  ieet.  He  is  however  represented  as 
crouching,  and  expiring  from  the  wound  of  a  lance,  driven 
through  his  body  and  broken  off  at  both  ends.  And  his  dying 
body  is  thrown  over  a  shield,  with  thefleur  de  lis  of  France  upon 
it ; — as  if  the  noble  beast  would  cover  and  protect  what  he  could 
no  longer  defend.  Above  are  inscribed  in  great  letters  : — Helve-^ 
tiorum  fidei  and  virtidi ;  To  the  fidelity  and  courage  of  the 
Swiss !  The  conception  is  exceedingly  grand,  and  the  execu- 
tion, in  the  very  highest  style  of  art  and  genius.  The  whole  is 
cut  at  a  considerable  elevation,  into  the  perpendicular  face  of  a  cliff 
which  had  been  smoothed  to  gain  a  good  surface,  and  which 
mounts  up,  and  extends  far  in  all  directions.  It  is  a  most  superb 
production. 

Not  far  off,  is  a  small  ehapel  with  the  words,  Inviciis  pax  ; 
Peace  to  the  tmconquered — engraved  over  its  entrance. — And  the 
whole  unity  of  the  piece  is  touchingly  preserved,  by  the  presence 
of  a  fine,  handsome  old  man  as  master  of  ceremonies,  who  was 
himself  present  and  severely  wounded,  in  the  butchery  of  his  com- 
rades commemorated  by  the  work.  The  strata  of  the  cliff 
which  forms  the  element  of  the  monument,  are  finely  exhibited 
on  its  face  ;  and  the  very  reverse  of  the  prevailing  strata  of  that 
region.  These  are  elevated  at  a  great  angle  towards  the  south* 
east. 


FOREIGN    TRAVEL.  161 


CHAPTER   XVII. 


Security  of  Interior  Switzerland^Battle  Fields— Route  from  Luzern  to  Bern— Art 
of  Travelling— The  Entlibuch— Swiss  Cottages— The  Emmenthal— General  Struc- 
ture of  the  Alpine  Ranges— City  of  Bern— Public  Fare— Costume — Political 
Changes. 


Luzern  is  often  called  the  Gibralter  of  Switzerland ;  but  per- 
haps with  more  of  fancy  than  truth.  They  who  have  conquered 
all  Switzerland,  up  to  the  gates  of  Luzern,  would  risk  all  against 
almost  nothing,  b}'  an  attempt  to  push  their  conquests  further. 
It  is  the  outpost  of  the  Alps,  of  eternal  ice,  of  savage  precipices 
and  of  a  climate  in  which  winter  reigns  with  absolute  dominion 
for  three-quarters  of  the  year ;  and  where  all  the  sweetness  and 
power  of  summer  scarce  adorns  his  terrible  features  with  faint 
smiles  for  a  few  fleeting  months.  The  vallies  which  penetrate 
these  regions  have  no  charms  for  the  fierce  shedders  of  human 
blood.  The  scattered  and  simple  dwellers  in  them,  irresistible 
in  their  defence,  have  sought  no  extension  of  their  power,  nor 
even  of  their  principles.  The  very  herds  which  feed  upon  the 
short  thick  grass  of  their  lofty  hill  sides,  are  a  race  peculiar  and 
indigenous;  and  their  plants  and  trees  languish  and  decay  in  all 
other  climes.  The  oppressors  of  the  earth  have  nothing  to  gain 
in  these  solitudes ;  nor  have  they  any  thing  to  lose  by  permit- 
ting the  liberty  which  they  abhor,  to  dwell  in  peace,  where  noth- 
ing else  has  vigour  enough  to  exist. 

And  yet  the  hill  sides,  and  the  mountain  tops,  and  the  deep 
vallies  of  Switzerland,  have  felt  almost  as  frequently  as  any  part 
of  Europe,  the  mailed  footstep  of  the  warrior ;  and  run  as  red 
15* 


162  MEMORANDA  OF 

with  his  blood.  From  the  summit  of  Bramegg,  in  the  Entlibuchy 
between  Luzern  and  Bern,  as  you  stand  facing  the  terrific  crags 
of  PilatuSj  and  looking  to  the  south  and  over  his  brow,  the  vast 
Alps  of  the  Oberland,  and  the  boundless  fields  of  ice,  and  snow, 
and  living  rocks,  beyond  and  to  the  right  and  left ;  you  have  all 
around,  and  almost  within  reach,  renowned  spots,  consecrated 
by  the  fury  of  human  passions.  If  you  look  eastward,  the 
broken  top  of  Russiberg,  tells  you  of  the  glorious  valley  of  Mor- 
garten  beyond  its  base ;  where  at  the  first,  Helvetia  bathed  her 
young  freedom,  in  the  kingly  blood  of  Austria.  If  you  turn  to 
the  north,  Sempach  is  at  your  feet ;  and  the  voice  of  Arnold  of 
Winkelried  is  almost  audible  to  you  yet,  as  bravely  devoting 
himself  for  his  country,  he  rushed  upon  the  long  pikes  of  the 
enemy,  and  gathering  in  his  arms  and  in  his  body  the  utmost  he 
could  contain,  shouted  to  his  faltering  brethren ;  "  I  open  you 
the  way  dear  confederates,  remember  my  wife  and  babes." — 
Turn  with  your  eyes  full  of  tears,  towards  the  distant  west,  and 
behold  at  the  feet  of  the  Jura,  Murten,  (or  Morat,  as  the  French 
call  it);  where  Charles  the  Bold  of  Burgundy,  and  his  proud 
nobles,  left  their  bones  to  be  buried  by  the  hands  of  the  "  miser- 
able peasants,"  he  came  to  sweep  out  of  his  royal  track.  If 
only  such  fields  as  these  were  stricken,  the  heart  would  be  con- 
soled, under  the  horrors  which  cleave  to  them,  by  the  reflection 
that  the  right  triumphed,  and  that  sharp  lessons  were  given  to 
tyrants.  But  there  is  Cappel  between  you  and  Morgarten ; 
and  while  we  rejoice  in  the  very  home  of  Tell,  we  weep  over 
the  grave  of  Zwingle,  slain  by  a  brother's  hand,  in  social  and 
religious  war.  Turn  too  where  you  will,  these  cloud-capped 
summits  are  the  everlasting  monuments  of  strange  soldiers,  and 
foreign  quarrels,  but  too  oflen  submitted  in  their  sight,  to  the 
keen  arbitration  of  the  sword.  The  top  of  Albis  to  the  north- 
east, recalls  Massena,  and  the  victory  of  Zurich.  The  gigantic 
bosom  of  St.  Gothard  to  the  south-east,  still  resounds  the  name 
of  the  ferocious  Suwarrow.  You  strain  your  eyes  in  vain  to 
catch  a  ray  from  the  top  of  Saint  Bernard,  far  to  the  south-west; 
where  upon  the  earth's  top,  and  above  all  its  red  glory,  is 
inscribed  the  name  of  Napoleon,  above  that  of  Hannibal !— 


FOREIGN   TRAVEL.  163 

Terrible  butchers !  I  would  rather  be  drowned  in  the  tears  shed 
after  your  footsteps,  than  answer  for  a  thousandth  part  of  the 
blood  which  cements  your  fame  ! 

The  most  direct  route  from  Luzern  to  Bern,  makes  the  dis- 
tance about  eighteen  leagues.  Persons  do  not  generally  travel 
it,  however,  but  diverge  to  the  south,  and  visit  the  romantic 
region  beyond  Thun.  We  were  somewhat  afraid  of  the  prox- 
imity of  the  deep  and  increasing  snow  upon  the  Alps, — a  little 
restricted  in  time, — and  anxious  to  improve  the  delightful 
weather  we  had  enjoyed  almost  constantly  since  we  left  Paris. 
We  were  not  as  well  informed,  either  in  regard  to  the  routes,  or 
the  objects  of  interest  connected  with  them,  as  we  afterwards 
became ;  which  is  indeed  a  common  misfortune  with  travellers, 
and  one  that  seems  remediless. 

As  to  giving  yourself  up  to  the  direction  of  superficial  way- 
books,  or  following  the  notions  of  travellers  who  have  preceded 
you,  it  is  out  of  the  question  ;  while  on  the  other  hand,  to  ascer- 
tain for  yourself  the  real  state  of  things,  to  see,  to  know,  to  ex- 
amine every  thing,  is  not  only  an  intolerable  labour,  but  requires 
more  previous  knowledge  than  most  mew  have  the  happiness  of 
possessing ;  and  more  time  than  most  travellers  have  to  spare. 
There  is  great  skill  in  travelling  well,  and  I  have  seen  but  few 
who  attain  it.  I  have  met  with  persons  who  seemed  to  me  the 
most  useless  and  miserable  of  beings,  wasting  their  time  and 
means ;  some  rushing  about  Europe  like  men  in  a  phrenzy, 
without  any  thought,  except  of  the  moment  the  next  stage  would 
be  reached  ;  and  others  idling  and  sauntering  about,  as  if  their 
only  purpose  was,  to  forget  how  many  days  made  a  year.  Oth- 
ers will  take  a  guide  or  a  directory,  and  go  to  work,  as  if  they 
had  laid  a  wager  how  much  they  could  look  at  in  a  given  num- 
ber of  days ;  and  which  after  seeing,  is  remembered  simply  as 
costing  such  a  number  of  pounds,  or  occasioning  such  an  amount 
of  labour.  More  still,  go  at  random;  dart  into  a  valley  they 
came  a  hundred  leagues  to  see,  and  dart  out  again;  express 
their  whole  emotions  on  the  top  of  the  Semplon  or  the  Splugen, 
by  puffing  out,  "  what  a  journey  up ;"  and  seem  to  have  just 
the  notion  of  what  is  past  over,  or  what  is  yet  to  come,  that  our 


164  MEMORANDA    OF 

dear  little  ones  at  the  first  dawn  of  reason,  have  of  the  most 
affecting  stories  ;  after  whose  conclusion,  their  only  response  is, 
"  Tell  on,  Pa."  It  is  a  high,  and  I  am  surprised  to  find,  a  rare 
gift,  to  be  alive  to  the  beauties  which  the  Creator  has  lavished 
upon  this  lower  world.  It  is  not  common  for  the  past,  or  the 
present  even,  to  be  sufficiently  known  to  make  the  recollections 
of  the  one,  or  the  promises  of  the  other,  a  source  either  of  in- 
struction or  delight.  And  the  very  power  of  observing  and  dis- 
tinguishing what  is  before  the  eyes,  in  the  most  obvious  forms, 
so  that  truth  shall  be  confirmed,  error  corrected,  virtue  strength- 
ened, and  just  and  enlarged  sentiments  created  and  nourished — 
seems  denied  to  an  immense  proportion  of  those,  upon  whom 
such  invaluable  opportunities  are  lost.  I  may  say,  after  being 
seduced  this  far,  that  if  the  great  mass  of  travellers  would  speak 
candidly,  I  believe  they  would  be  obliged  to  say,  they  derive  as 
little  pleasure,  as  it  is  manifest  they  do  improvement,  from  that 
which  is  undoubtedly  one  of  the  most  copious  sources  of  the  one 
and  the  other.  And  what,  it  may  be  asked,  is  to  be  inferred 
from  hence?  Nothing— just  nothing;  except  that  the  world 
which  travels,  is  a  fair  sample  of  the  world  which  stays  at  home  ; 
the  history  of  the  one  and  the  other,  being  a  story  of  time  mis- 
spent, and  precious  opportunity  sacrificed  to  folly,  ignorance,  or 
vice. 

The  day  and  a  half  which  it  requires  to  go  by  the  direct  route, 
between  the  cities  already  named,  may  be  happily,  sweetly  passed 
away.  The  first  half  of  the  way  lies  in  Luzern,  passing  through 
the  region  called  the  Entlibuch,  which  I  have  casually  mention- 
ed ;  and  which  is  a  district  of  high  and  fertile  hills,  interspersed 
with  farms  and  forests,  and  covered  with  the  neat  and  comfort- 
able cottages  of  the  Swiss.  These  cottages  are  common  to  every 
part  of  the  country,  and  I  presume  to  Germany  also ;  for  I  saw 
them  first  in  the  Grand  Duchy  of  Baden.  They  are  very  capa- 
cious, with  the  roofs  reaching  very  low,  often  almost  to  the 
ground,  and  the  windows  always  in  the  ends  of  the  house, 
which  also  are  protected  by  a  projecting  roof.  There  is  most 
frequently  a  long  raised  way  of  earth  or  stone,  by  which  the 
second  floor  can  be  entered  from  without :  and  be  thus  made,  in 


FOREIGN    TRAVEL.  165 

wliole  or  part,  a  convenient  receptacle  for  the  products  of  the 
earth.  The  frround  floor  is  usually  appropriated  to  the  uses  of 
barn,  stable,  and  cellar;  and  the  steep  roof  of  the  house  never 
fails  to  have  as  many  (often  more)  stories  as  the  whole  house 
beside.  They  are  cfenerally  built  of  wood — a  frame  set  on  a 
stone  wall ;  and  the  whole  aspect  is  one  of  great  snugness  and 
comfort.  In  some  regions,  as  around  Zurich,  they  are  all  white, 
and  have  an  exceedingly  picturesque  appearance. 

The  latter  half  of  the  journey  leads  through  the  valley  called 
Emmenthal  in  Bern,  which  is  one  of  the  richest  and  most 
beautiful  in  Switzerland,  or  in  the  world.  Commencing  in  a 
narrow  strip  between  the  mountains,  with  a  rill  murmuring 
through  it,  and  steep  precipices  hemming  it  in  ;  it  widens  and 
enlarges — full  of  villages  and  farms — covered  with  herds  of 
beautiful  cows,  rich  in  machinery,  and  extensive  bleaching 
yards,  filled  with  thousands  of  yards  of  linen ;  until  it  is  lost  over 
a  gentle  swell  in  the  wide  valley  of  the  Aar.  This  river  is  one 
of  the  largest  in  Switzerland,  and  furnishes  on  its  banks  some  of 
the  finest  portions  of  it.  A  more  beautiful  or  highly  cultivated 
region  is  scarcely  to  be  found  in  Europe,  than  the  banks  of  the 
Aar,  in  the  vicinity  of  Bern. 

I  had  repeated  opportunities  during  this  ride,  especially  the 
former  part  of  it,  to  see  the  range  of  mountains  which  forms  the 
northern  outposts  of  the  Alps,  in  such  a  way  as  to  give  an  exact 
idea  of  their  formation,  in  regard  to  some  points  which  are  much 
disputed.  The  Albis  in  Zurich,  the  Russiberg  and  Rigi  in  Zug 
and  Schwytz,  Pilatus  between  Luzern  and  Underwald,  with  the 
Friburg  mountains  towards  the  west;  these  taken  together  Ibrm 
a  line  from  north-east  to  south-west,  in  front  of  St.  Gothard,  the 
Semplon,  and  St.  Bernard ;  which  themselves  form  a  line  behind 
them  of  incalculably  greater  extent  and  elevation.  I  have  seen 
both  sides  of  both  lines.  The  north-western  side  of  both  is  pre- 
cipitous, rugged,  and  inaccessible ;  so  much  so,,  that  the  sum- 
mits can  be  reached  very  seldom  from  that  point.  But  where 
soil  is  found,  it  is  always  rich  on  that  exposure.  The  opposite 
or  south-eastern  part  is  gradually  sloped  off,  and  is  as  much  less 
fertile,  as  it  is  less  abrupt.    The  structure  of  these  tremendoug 


166  MEMORANDA    OF 

elevations  reminded  me  very  often  of  what  I  had  seen,  both 
elsewhere  in  Europe,  and  in  every  part  of  the  United  States. — 
Those  who  have  been  at  Siirling  in  Scotland,  have  seen  in  mini- 
ature,  on  a  very  small  scale,  a  representation  of  the  ranges  of 
which  I  now  speak,  furnished  by  the  precipice  on  whose  south- 
eastern face  that  town  is  huilt,  and  those  to  the  right  and  left  of 
it.  In  short,  I  have  never  seen  in  any  part  of  the  world,  moun- 
tain ranges,  which  did  not  coincide  in  their  apparent  structure, 
if  they  coincided  in  their  line  of  direction.  They  all  indicate  a 
particular  and  terrihle  convulsion,  and  all  demonstrate  a  general 
subsidence  towards  the  south-east. 

The  city  of  Bern  is,  after  Geneva,  the  largest  in  Switzerland  ; 
and  it  is  one  of  the  most  regular  and  well  built  cities  in  Western 
Europe.  It  is  situated  in  a  very  sharp  elbow  of  the  Aar,  which 
carries  into  the  Rhine,  the  waters  of  this  section  of  the  confede- 
ration. A  fciingle  bridge  is  thrown  across  the  stream — the  ap- 
proach to  which  on  the  farther  side  is  through  a  long  and  noble 
avenue  of  trees ;  and  on  this  side  up  a  steep  ascent  into  the 
principal  street  of  the  town.  On  both  sides  of  this  street  the 
foot  pavemeni  is  rather  in  the  houses  than  in  the  street,  being 
conducted  under  a  low  and  dark  arch-way,  over  which  the 
second  stories  of  the  houses  extend.  The  streets  are  so  laid  out, 
that  the  sun  never  shines  on  but  one  side  of  them,  which  makes 
the  houses  on  the  other  side  as  damp  as  their  walks  are  gloomy. 
The  taste  of  the  people  in  the  arts,  is  in  accordance  with  these 
strange  notions.  One  of  their  principal  fountains,  of  which 
there  are  a  number,  as  in  every  continental  city  I  have  yet  seen, 
is  adorned  with  the  most  extraordinary  and  disgusting  piece  of 
sculpture  to  be  found  amongst  men.  Upon  the  top  of  a  pillar  is 
seated  an  obese  looking  old  man,  quite  at  his  ease,  eating  a  baby  ! 
He  holds  in  one  hand  the  lower  extremeties  of  a  child  whose 
head  and  shoulders  he  is  masticating ;  and  in  the  other,  a  basket 
full  of  urchins,  to  finish  his  repast.  Other  infants,  are  hung 
around  his  neck  by  straps,  like  game ;  and  two  or  three, 
who  have  got  out  of  the  basket,  are  scampering  off  around  the 
pedestal.  The  whole  concern,  spring,  man,  and  all — is  well 
flamed  Kindernfressendhrunnen — which  any  mouth  but  an  initi- 


FOREIGN   TRAVEL  167 

ated  one,  could  as  easily  eat  a  child,  as  pronounce.    We  may 
translate  it,  "  the  children  gormandizing  fountain." 

It  is  not,  however,  only  in  the  arts  of  design  that  the  Bernese 
furnish  a  model.  They  have  a  specimen  of  mechanical  contri- 
vance, as  amusing  as  the  other  is  hideous.  The  principal  street' 
of  the  place  is  nearly  stopped  up  by  a  tower,  through  which, 
and  to  one  side  of  it,  narrow  passes  are  opened.  The  tower  is 
called,  from  its  use,  Zeiiglockenneue,  and  contains  the  town  clock. 
It  is  the  machinery  connected  with  this  clock,  to  which  I  allude. 
A  minute  or  two  before  the  clock  strikes  the  hour,  a  wooden  or 
metal  cock,  "as  large  as  life,"  seated  on  a  projection  of  the 
tower,  claps  his  wings  and  crows  twice ;  and  at  the  correspond- 
ing time  after  the  striking  of  the  hour,  he  repeats  his  salutations. 
Not  far  off,  are  various  other  contrivances,  equally  ridiculous. 
A  man  seated  on  a  throne,  opens  his  mouth  and  lowers  his  scep- 
tre at  each  strike  of  the  cbck;  and  with  the  other  hand  turns  a 
sand-glass  up-side-down,  as  soon  as  the  hour  is  fully  told.  At 
his  feet,  a  circle  of  bears,  of  which  about  half  are  visible  at  a 
time,  make  a  march  in  time  to  his  sceptre  and  jaws  ;  being  car- 
ried round  on  a  circular  plate.  Near  at  hand  is  a  lion  rampant, 
who  shakes  his  royal  mane ;  and  a  small  man  who  strikes  on 
two  bells  at  the  same  time,  in  accord  with  the  first  crowing  of 
the  cock.  The  hour  is  struck  twice — part  of  the  machinery 
working  with  each— and  the  whole  movement  occupying  per- _ 
haps  three  minutes.  7i(i  l^i  I 

It  was  market  day  in  Bern,  and  the  streets  were  crowded  to  ^ 
excess,  not  only  with  the  usual  attendant!  on  such  an  occasion 
every  where,  but  with  numerous  booths  and  tables,  exposing  for 
sale  every  sort  of  merchandize  and  manufacture.  It  was  the 
after  part  of  the  day,  when  we  arrived,  and  yet  every  thing  was 
in  great  activity.  The  markets  of  Europe  are  arranged  very 
differently  from  those  of  America.  The  stalls  for  the  sale  of 
meat  which  occupy  so  large  a  part  of  all  American  markets,  are 
seldom  found  at  all  in  those  of  Europe ;  but  are  kept  like  our 
grocery  stores,  in  the  various  quarters  where  they  are  needed, 
and  are  always  open.  Markets  for  fowls  and  birds  are  also  sep- 
arate, or  at  least  held  on  different  days,  from  other  markets. 


168  MEMORANDA    OF 

The  bird  market  of  Bern  is  one  of  the  greatest  curiosities  in  the 
city.  The  market  for  vegetables  is  to  itself— iliat  for  fruits  to 
itself.  The  fruit  market  on  the  principal  bridge  of  Zurich,  which 
was  held  just  belbre  our  window,  in  the  Hotel  de  V  Epie,  and 
which  we  had  three  or  four  opportunities  to  see,  is  one  of  the 
most  picturesque  sights  which  even  Switzerland  affords.  Every- 
where in  Europe  females  are  the  principal  attendants  on  the 
ordinary  markets,  both  to  purchase  and  sell ;  and  almost  every 
where  the  donkey  is  the  principal  vehicle  which  transports  the 
affairs  to  market,  and  his  mistress  home.  But  in  all  except  the 
largest  class  of  cities,  there  are  weekly,  monthly,  or  quarterly 
markets — or  where  they  extend  beyond  a  sin  trie  day,  fares;  at 
which  much  greater  numbers  attend,  and  trading  of  all  sorts  is 
practised  by  men  as  well  as  women.  Such  a  one,  we  fell  upon  at 
Bern.  And  besides  the  activity  given  by  it,  to  its  ten  or  twelve 
thousand  inhabitants— half  as  many  more  were  gathered  to- 
gether by  its  influence. 

Every  Canton  has  a  costume  peculiar  to  itself;  and  the  female 
especially  seems  to  have  taxed  her  ingenuity  for  the  production 
of  a  sufficient  number  of  the  most  singular  head-dresses  in  the 
woHd.  It  is  in  this  article,  ihat  the  costumes  of  the  different 
Cantons  are  especially  distinguished.  And  in  this,  extravagance 
is  pushed  to  the  most  absurd  extent.  The  female  of  Luzern 
wears  a  skull  cap  fitted  tight  to  the  head,  made  of  velvet,  and 
richly  embroidered  ;  while  her  hair  is  platted  and  hangs  down 
her  back,  with  broad  ribbons  hanging  to  the  end  of  it.  Bonnets 
are  a  luxury  unknown  to  the  Swiss  peasants  any  where,  except 
in  Geneva  and  Vaud.  The  women  in  Freyburg  p!at  their  hair, 
with  the  help  of  horse  hair  and  stuffs,  into  mats  of  enormous 
thickness,  which  they  wind  round  their  heads.  The  Vaudois  wear 
a  wide  brimmed  straw  hat,  with  a  very  low  crown,  and  a  handle 
in  the  centre  of  the  top.  The  Bernese  have  a  plain  black  cap, 
tight  10  the  head,  and  garnished  by  a  border  of  net  work,  either 
of  horse  hair  or  of  silk,  of  the  most  preposterous  width,  certainly 
from  nine  to  fifteen  inches,  and  always  black.  When  made  of 
cotton  or  silk,  the  border  hangs  about  the  face  and  neck  in  ample 
folds.     When  made  of  horse  hair,  as  it  is  commonly,  it  sticks 


FOREIGN    TRAVEL.  169 

Straight  up,  except  on  the  top  of  the  head,  where  it  is  drawn 
back  and  fastened,  giving  the  head  the  appearance  of  a  chicken 
cock's,  with  a  double  comb.  The  varieties  in  other  parts  of 
their  costume,  are  endless,  and  far  exceed  my  skill  in  drapery  to 
describe.  Some  are  rather  plain — the  Bernese  exceedingly  de- 
corated with  chains  and  trinkets.  Indeed,  the  short  petticoat 
without  sleeves,  (which  is  universal,)  when  coupled  with  the  metal 
ornaments,  and  the  deep  tan  of  the  skin,  very  often  brought  to 
my  recollection  the  North  American  Indians. 

In  the  Canton  Bern,  before  the  influences  of  the  French  Rev- 
olution of  18S0  had  produced  a  corresponding  result  here,  there 
existed,  if  we  may  so  speak,  an  Aristocratic  Republic,  not  unlike 
those  of  Venice  and  Genoa  in  former  days:  or  as  the  great  Ha'- 
ler,  who  was  a  native  of  Bern,  has  described  it,  a  Military  Repub- 
lic, after  the  model  of  that  of  Rome.  The  change  here  has 
been  more  absolute  than  in  France  itself.  The  aristocracy  o{ 
the  towns,  and  the  rural  noblesse  con^posed  of  the  landed  propri- 
etors, are  much  more  numerous,  and  had  far  more  power  and 
influence  in  this  than  in  any  other  Canton.  At  present  the  pop- 
ular party  is  possessed  of  the  whole  power  of  the  state  ;  and  re- 
cent events  seem  likely  to  swallow  up  or  overwhelm  the  entire 
aristocracy  of  Switzerland,  in  a  mighty  national  movement,  im- 
pelled by  a  pressure  both  li'om  within  and  from  without.  The 
contest  in  Bern  has  been  long  contini-ied,  and  with  various  suc- 
cesses to  the  respective  parties.  On  one  occasion  there  had  very 
nearly  been  a  civil  war,  if  FiPasmns  is  to  be  credited,  because 
the  wives  of  the  noblesse  insisted  on  the  exclusive  right  to  wear 
a  particular  kind  of  shoes ;  and  their  hair  depending.  On  an- 
other, John  de  Buhenberg,  their  SchuUheiss,  was  banished  with 
his  partizans  "  for  a  century  and  a  day,"  because,  as  his  enemies 
alleged,  he  governed  hke  a  prince,  rather  than  a  citizen.  At 
length,  however,  the  contest  is  settled  ;  and  the  ancient  institu- 
tions of  Bern  are  likely  to  be  subjected  to  still  further  changes, 
rather  than  to  be  restored. 


Vol.  II.— 16 


170  MEMORANDA    OF 


CHAPTER   XVIII 


Influence  of  the  Local  Situation  of  Switzerland — Effects  of  the  Revolution  of  1830 
—Foreign  Interference  with  the  Affairs  of  the  Confederation^Difficulties  with 
France  in  1836— National  Spirit  of  the  Swiss — Fellenberg— Personal  Troubles 
—Deficiency  of  American  Diplomatic  Agents— Notices  of  Bern— Influence  of 
Alpine  Scenery— 


It  happened  that  I  was  in  Bern  in  the  interval  between 
the  adjournment  of  the  regular  Diet,  and  the  convocation  of 
the  extraordinary  Diet,  which  the  interruption  of  all  relations 
between  that  country  and  France  had  rendered  necessary.  The 
local  situation  of  Switzerland,  with  reference  to  Italy,  France, 
Germany,  and  the  dominions  of  the  house  of  Austria,  makes  it 
the  natural  point  of  escape  for  all  who  find  it  necessary  to  fly 
from  any  of  these  countries;  a  city  of  refuge  for  the  criminal  and 
the  unfortunate,  in  the  centre  of  those  powers  that  have  been 
for  so  many  ages  amongst  the  greatest  in  the  world.  If  those 
powers  had  been  less,  Switzerland  had  long  ago  followed  the 
fate  of  Poland  and  the  Italian  republics.  But  it  seems  to  be  a 
capital  necessity  of  great  states  to  have  something  placed  between 
them,  that  may  relieve  the  severity  of  their  mutual  friction  :  an 
arm  of  the  sea — an  impassible  mountain — a  small  state.  God 
has  furnished  an  enduring  barrier  in  the  difference  of  speech  ; 
but  the  passions  of  men  find  others  needful.  So  great  is  this 
necessity  felt  to  be,  that  in  the  most  single  instance  of  departure 
from  it  in  modern  days — the  partition  of  Poland,  and  the  conse- 
quent juxtaposition  of  Austria  and  Russia — the  former  of  those 
powers  has  long  desired  and  offered  to  remedy  the  evil  and  cor- 


FOREIGN    TRAVEL.  171 

rect  the  defect,  by  restorino:  its  part  of  Poland,  for  the  purpose 
of  re-constituting  that  kingdom  and  restoring  its  ancient  nation- 
ality ;  and  thus  interposing  between  them  a  state  less  powerful 
than  either  of  themselves.  The  events  of  the  last  fifty  years 
have  sufficiently  shewn  the  governments  of  Europe,  the  necessity 
of  having  some  vent  of  this  son  for  the  periodical  commotions 
which  vegetating  liberty  engenders.  There  is  no  alternative 
but  butchery  or  expulsion — no  choice  but  between  the  guillotine 
and  Sibetia.  Russia  has  her  own  Siberia — Switzerland  is  the 
Siberia  of  all  Europe  besides. 

The  world  is  not  likely  to  forget  the  memorable  events  which 
followed  the  revolution  of  July,  in  Germany,  Italy,  Poland,  and 
the  Peninsula.  In  France  and  Belgium  alone,  besides  Switzer- 
land, the  revolutionary  party  achieved,  as  they  then  thought,  a 
complete  triumph.  There  is  much  reason  to  believe  that  the 
French  government  encouraged  revolution  every  where,  until 
Louis  Phillippe  frightened  the  northern  powers  into  an  acknow- 
ledgment of  his  dynasty,  by  the  extent  and  magnitude  of  these 
movements  ;  and  then  sacrificed  the  patriots  they  had  excited  to 
attempts,  which  became  desperate,  only  when  France  disavowed 
them.  The  effects  of  these  various  commotions  were  too  con- 
siderable to  permit  the  adoption  of  the  ordinary  policy.  Italy, 
Germany,  and  Poland  might  have  furnished  Switzerland  with 
refugees  enough  to  form  an  army.  Another  course  was  taken, 
France  took  the  Poles  into  her  pay ;  England  gave  those  who 
sought  her  shores,  scanty  and  temporary  supplies  ;  and  Austria 
sent  squadrons  of  them  to  the  United  States.  All  Europe  had 
guaranteed  the  nationality  of  Poland  ;  and  all  Europe  looked  on 
and  saw  that  nationality  annihilated,  after  the  most  heroic  strug- 
gle which  modern  times  have  produced.  Nothing  can  present 
in  a  more  perfectly  just  and  striking  contrast,  the  public  senti- 
ment of  Europe,  and  that  of  the  United  States,  than  the  fact, 
that  Congress  voted  an  extensive  domain  as  a  national  present, 
to  those  whom  Europe  had  cast  out ! 

The  power  of  the  democratic  party  in  the  Swiss  Cantons,  and 
the  vast  numbers  of  refugees  created  by  recent  events,  have 
made  the  northern  powers  exceedingly  watchful  and  jealous  of  all 


172  MEMORANDA    OF 

that  transpires  there.  Under  various  pretexts  the  expulsion  of 
these  political  refugees  from  Switzerland,  had  been  repeatedly  and 
urgently  demanded,  by  Austria,  Prussia,  and  the  Grand  Duke  of 
Baden,  with  the  connivance  of  the  Pope,  and  the  Kings  of  Sar- 
dinia and  France.  x\t  length  in  August  of  this  year,  (1S36)  the 
Federal  Diet  adopted  a  conclusum  on  the  subject;  which,  al- 
though not  equal  to  what  was  demanded,  was  more  than  several 
of  the  Cantons  seemed  disposed  to  yield  ;  and  was  taken  as  suf- 
ficient for  the  time  being,  by  the  *'  Great  Powers,"  as  some  of 
them  arrogantly  call  themselves.  In  the  meantime,  the  King  o^f 
the  French,  whose  life  had  been  twice  attempted  and  who  found 
himself  threatened  not  only  with  revolution,  but  with  assassina- 
tion ;  directed  his  ambassador  in  Switzerland  to  take  a  leading 
part  in  inducing  the  Cantons  to  act  with  vigour  and  promptitude 
against  the  refugees.  His  pretext  was  that  they  plotted  against 
his  life,  as  well  as  against  the  repose  of  States.  The  French 
ambassador,  the  Duke  de  Montebello,  so  managed  the  affair  as 
to  give  the  Diet  great  offence.  At  the  same  moment  certain 
refugees  made  disclosures  to  leading  members  of  it,  which  excit- 
ed suspicions  against  the  French  ambassador  and  King  ;  and  a 
bold,  acute,  and  perfectly  successful  investigation  and  exposure 
of  the  conduct  of  the  former  was  the  result.  It  was  proved  be- 
yond question,  that  the  French  authorities  had  employed  spies, 
(especially  an  Italian  refugee  named  Carsiel)  for  the  purpose  of 
exciting  those  whose  expulsion  they  demanded,  to  enter  into  the 
rery  plots,  for  having  engaged  in  which  their  expulsion  had  been 
previously  demanded  !  MM.  Keller  and  Monard,  deputies  from 
Zurich  and  Lausanne,  were  the  leaders  in  this  courageous  act. 
The  Diet  agreed  on  a  clear  and  dignified  report,  which  neither 
the  King  of  the  French  nor  his  ambassador,  ever  attempted  to 
answer;  ten  thousand  copies  of  which  were  sent  to  Paris  for 
circulation.  About  the  same  period,  the  French  ministry  at  the 
head  of  which  was  M.  Theirs,  was  dismissed,  in  consequence  oi" 
a  disagreement  touching  the  recent  revolution  in  Spain ;  and  a 
new  ministry  essentially  doctrinaire,  after  some  delay,  was  in- 
stalled under  the  Presidency  of  Count  Mole.  An  early  act  of 
this  ministry  was  to  draw  up  an  ultimatum,  equally  insolent  and 


FOREIGN   TRAVEL.  173 

false ;  which  having  delivered  through  the  hands  of  the  Duke  of 
Montebello  to  the  Federal  Directory,  they  closed  at  once  all  re- 
lations, whether  diplomatic  or  commercial,  between  the  two 
nations ;  until  ample  satisfaction  should  be  made  to  the  insulted 
honor  of  France. 

It  was  only  the  day  before  I  reached  Bern,  that  the  Duke  had 
done  his  last  office  and  closed  the  bureau  of  his  embassy.  A 
few  days  after,  the  call  for  the  meeting  of  an  extraordinary  Diet 
of  two  delegates  from  each  Canton,  to  convene  at  Bern  on  the 
17th  of  October,  was  despatched  .to  the  several  cantonial  direct- 
ories. And  about  the  same  time,  the  Canton  Vaud,  which  is 
one  of  the  largest  in  the  confederacy,  refused  to  agree  even  to 
the  conclusum  of  the  diet ;  much  less  to  the  more  recent  de- 
mands of  France.  This  step  can  have  no  other  effect  than  to 
complicate  the  whole  affair  more  seriously ;  and  render  its  settle- 
ment without  bloodshed,  still  more  difficult. — For  if  the  Diet  can 
with  honor  pacify  France,  and  preserve  the  friendship  of  the 
northern  powers,  by  rigidly  executing  the  conclusum ;  why  there 
will  remain  the  necessity  of  coercing  in  some  way,  the  powerful 
Canton  of  Vaud.  But  on  the  other  hand,  it  is  obvious  that  the 
ancient  spirit  of  Helvetia  is  roused ;  that  the  conduct  of  the 
French  government  has  united  almost  the  whole  people  in  ab- 
horrence against  it,  and  a  profound  purpose  to  preserve  at  all 
hazards,  the  dignity,  the  independence,  and  the  liberties  of  Swit- 
zerland. So  that  it  seems  more  probable  that  the  conclusum  of 
the  Diet  would  itself  be  repealed,  than  any  attempt  be  made  to 
coerce  the  Canton  Vaud.  If  the  conclusum  be  repealed,  an 
army  will  immediately  environ  Switzerland,  from  the  Rhine, 
around  by  the  north,  the  east,  and  the  south,  to  the  Rhone.  On 
the  west,  the  line  of  frontier  next  to  France  is  already  shut  up, 
and  nothing  that  is  Swiss  is  allowed  to  pass  ;  and  it  is  declared 
by  France  that  it  shall  not  be  re-opened  till  a  satisfaction,  not 
only  impossible,  but  incomprehensible,  is  rendered.  It  is  already 
avowed  by  the  organs  of  the  present  French  cabinet,  that  the 
plan  of  operations  will  be,  to  environ  the  Swiss  on  all  sides,  and 
starve  them  in  their  mountains. 

It  seems  scarcely  possible  that  things  should  continue  as  they  are 
16* 


174 


MEMORANDA    OF 


and  not  probable  that  they  would  go  back.  If  the  Swiss  sought 
only  revenge  against  France,  Austria  is  ready  and  able  to  forget 
refugees,  and  wink  to  blindness  at  any  thing  that  would  increase 
her  influence  in  Switzerland,  and  over  the  passes  of  the  Alps. 
The  Emperor  of  Austria  is  King  of  Lombardy  ;  and  his  fair- 
est dominions  are  inaccessible  to  all  foreign  powers  but  France ; 
and  her  only  route  to  them  is  over  the  Alps.— But  if  the  Swiss 
rely  on  themselves,  their  fastnesses,  the  justness  of  their  cause, 
and  the  goodness  of  that  benign  Power,  which  has  commanded 
the  nations  to  remember  the  stranger,  and  to  beware  how  they 
oppress  the  friendless,  (and  it  is  not  for  themselves,  but  for  the 
stranger  and  the  oppressed  that  they  resist;)  He  will  find,  or 
make  a  way  for  their  deliverance.  How  base  is  power ;  how 
heartless,  how  selfish,  how  detestable,  are  the  schemes  and  pur- 
poses of  those,  whom  God  himself  has  denominated  "  the  basest 
of  mankind?"  There  is  not  a  man  in  France  that  wishes  to  go 
war  with  the  Swiss ;  nor  one  in  Switzerland  who  wishes  to  go  to 
to  war  with  France.  But  the  ministers  of  Louis  Phillippe  the 
First,  did  a  dirty  thing  for  a  vile  end,  and  were  caught  in  it ;  and 
to  satisfy  French  honor,  the  only  alternative  is  to  tell  an  official 
falsehood,  under  tenor  of  threats ;  or  to  shed  innocent  blood ! 
The  world  is  tired  of  war.  Christianity  abhors  war.  Commerce 
detests  war.  Wealth  trembles  at  war.  Justice  and  mercy 
shrink  from  war.  But  all  these  interests  united,  control  the  mass 
of  all  modern  civilization.  Then  why  need  there  ever  be  war? 
There  never  would  he  warj  if  the  race  of  tyrants  was  extinct. 
There  is  no  modern  civilized  nation,  of  which  the  great  mass  is 
not  willing  to  mind  their  own  affairs,  and  treat  all  other  people 
with  justice  and  civility. — In  such  a  case,  there  could  be  no  war. 
Throw  a  King  into  the  scale,  and  the  chances  are  equal  that  he 
will  outweigh  all  the  interests  I  have  named. 

The  probability  however  is,  that  this  matter  has  gone  further 
than  the  King  of  the  French  intended  ;  and  it  has  certainly  been 
managed  with  a  want  of  tact  of  which  he  would  not  have  been 
guilty.  A  singular  incident  occurred  very  recently,  which  proves 
tids.  The  celebrated  Fellenburg,  at  a  public  meeting  in  the 
Canton  of  Bern,  declared  in  the  course  of  an  address  on  the  pre- 
sent state  of  Swiss  affairs,  that  he  had  the  highest  authority  for 


FOREIGN    TRAVEL.  175 

saying,  that  the  private  sentiments  of  Louis  Phillippe  were  alto- 
gether at  variance  with  those  of  his  cabinet  and  his  ambassador, 
in  relation  to  the  existing  difficulties  ;  that  his  heart,  grateful  for 
the  protection  which  the  Swiss  had  once  extended  to  himself, 
was  broken  at  the  prospect  of  a  rupture  with  them  ;  and  that  he 
not  only  wished,  but  was  resolved  to  make  an  amicable  adjust- 
men-t  of  the  matter. — What  does  this  mean  ?  Was  Louis  Phil- 
lippe deceived  as  to  the  slate  of  parties  in  Switzerland  ?  Is  he 
deceived  as  to  the  result  of  his  past  measures  ?  Is  he  in  earnest  ? 
Or  is  he  merely  intrigueing  to  keep  certain  men  out  of  the  ap- 
proaching Diet,  that  he  may  have  a  better  prospect  of  bringing 
it  to  terms  ? 

I  have  mentioned  the  name  of  Felienberg.  It  is  known  that 
his  famous  establishment  is  at  Hofwil,  a  league  or  two  from  Bern. 
I  had  appropriated  a  day  to  the  inspection  of  that  place ;  and  in 
thetiope  of  being  able  to  accomplish  it,  had  obtained  the  neces- 
sary letters  of  introduction.  The  state  of  affairs  between  France 
and  Switzerland  trenched  on  my  private  matters,  so  as  to  con- 
sume in  other  and  useless  attempts,  the  time  I  had  expected  to 
spend  at  Hofwil ;  and  thus  deprived  me  of  the  pleasure  and  in- 
struction I  had  hoped  to  derive  from  that  source.  Both  the  ser- 
vants that  accompanied  our  party — the  one  as  courier,  the  other 
the  nurse  of  our  infant,  were  Swiss,  with  Swiss  passports.  To 
do  without  a  nurse,  was  in  the  existing  state  of  the  mother's 
health,  impossible ;  to  get  along  with  our  party,  through  coun- 
tries whose  languages  are  constantly  changing,  and  none  of 
which  any  of  us  perfectly  understood,  was  extremely  difficult 
without  a  courier — a  servant,  at  least,  if  not  an  interpreter.  The 
entrance  into  Italy,  except  by  the  south  of  France,  was  sealeil 
up  by  cholera  or  quarantine ;  and  the  entrance  of  our  servants 
into  France  forbidden.  The  representatives  of  foreign  powers 
"  near"  the  Swiss  government,  as  the  phrase  is,  reside  where  the 
government  is  located ;  and  therefore  at  Bern  at  the  present 
time.  1  thought  myself  fortunate,  therefore,  in  ascertaining  the 
difficulty,  at  the  very  place  where  I  could  probably  provide 
against  it;  but  soon  found  that  I  had  little  reason  to  congratu- 
late myself.    There  was  no  American  agent  of  any  kind  at  Bern ; 


176  MEMORANDA  OF 

none,  that  I  could  certainly  ascertain,  in  Switzerland ;  or  even  if 
(as  some  conjectured)  there  was  one  at  Basle,  he  might  as  well 
be  in  Paris  or  London,  so  far  as  duties  to  be  performed  in  Swit- 
zerland are  concerned.— This  defect  of  national  representatives, 
is  deeply  injurious  to  our  national  character  abroad,  and  exceed- 
ingly inconvenient  to  our  citizens.  My  courier  (who,  having  re- 
sided twelve  years  in  England,  considered  himself  nearly  as  much 
entitled  to  be  an  Englishman  as  a  Swiss,)  urged  me  to  apply  to 
the  English  minister.  I  did  so,  and  stated  the  case  to  his  substi- 
tute in  his  office  (of  what  rank  I  am  unable  to  say).  The  ques- 
tion was  very  simple,  and  was  soon  settled.  I  wished  to  know  if  the 
ambassador  of  a  Iriendly  power,  would,  in  the  absence  of  any  re- 
presentative from  my  own  government,  say  in  two  words,  on 
my  passport ;  that  besides  the  persons  named  in  it,  two  servants 
had  been  added  to  my  family  since  the  passport  had  been  given  ; 
so  that  my  servants  might  have  their  characters  merged  in  mine, 
and  pass  by  my  passport,  instead  of  showing  their  separate  Swiss 
passports.  I  was  asked  if  I  would  pass  lor  an  Englishman? 
No  ;  for  nothing  on  earth  but  an  American.  Then  the  British 
ambassador  can  do  nothing  for  you,  sir. — Very  well;  let  things 
take  their  course.  The  courier  was  by  this  time  anxious  for  the 
result,  as  well  as  disappointed  at  the  bad  progress  of  our  first  at- 
tempt. His  next  suggestion  was,  that  as  I  would  be  nothing 
but  what  1  was,  he  should  become  for  the  occasion,  what  he  was 
not ;  and  that  I  should  write  to  some  American  agent  for  a  pass- 
port for  him  as  an  American  citizen.  To  this  I  demurred  as  de- 
cidedly as  to  the  other  proposition.  It  was  none  oi'  Louis  Phi- 
lippe's business  who  my  servants  were  ;  and  while  I  was  respon- 
ble  for  them,  he  might  pass  them,  if  he  chose,  without  asking  any 
questions  beyond  the  naked  fact,  that  they  belonged  to  my  fam- 
ily, as  mere  travellers  through  his  dominions.  But  if  he  chose 
to  ask  more,  either  in  regard  to  me  or  them,  I  could  neither  tell, 
nor  connive  at  others  telling  aught  but  the  truth.  As  a  last  des- 
perate alternative  the  courier  got  my  permission,  to  wait,  on  his 
own  responsibility  on  the  Russian  ambassador  for  aid,  or  at  least 
advice.  The  ambassador  was  extremely  polite ;  but  the  case 
was  hopeless.    I  forbade  the  subject  to  be  mentioned  any  fur- 


rOREIGN    TRAVEL.  177 

tlier ;  and  quietly  resigned  myself  into  His  hands  who  is  able 
to  deliver  alike  from  cholera,  quarantine,  the  French  King's  in- 
trigues, and  every  other  curse  which  the  folly  or  guilt  of  man 
has  brought  upon  the  earth. 

There  are  many  things  about  Bern  to  interest  the  stranger; 
many  monuments  of  its  former  wisdom  and  courage;  many  of 
its  present  prosperity  and  public  spirit.  There  are  six  hundred 
and  fifty  rural  schools  in  the  Canton  ;  and  here,  as  in  all  the  Pro- 
testant Cantons,  and  several  of  the  Catholic  also  I  believe,  pop- 
ular education  is  not  only  gratuitous  or  nearly  so,  but  the  parent 
is  obliged  by  law  to  send  his  child  to  school  for  a  considerable 
portion  of  each  year  between  his  sixth  and  sixteenth  year. 
Learning  has  however,  had  few  eminent  men  to  boast  of  in  Bern. 
If  we  except  the  celebrated  Haller,  I  cannot  at  this  moment  re- 
call another.  This  is  not  to  be  attributed  to  want  of  opportu- 
nities, nor  lack  of  public  estimation  of  learning  :  for  the  city  has 
its  Academy — its  faculties  of  law,  medicine,  theology,  science, 
languages,  &o.  &c.;  its  libraries,  museums,  and  numerous  sci- 
entific collections  and  societies. 

The  bear  is  the  ensign  of  Bern,  and  it  is  not  without  some 
siiovv  of  reason  that  it  has  been  called  a  city  of  bears  ;  at  least 
so  far  as  the  perpetual  recurrence  of  images  of  that  sage  and 
grave  beast,  in  stone,  print,  wood,  and  coin,  can  justify  such 
an  appellation.  It  makes  manifest,  at  least,  the  strong  military 
bias  of  the  people.  Amongst  its  public  buildings,  one  of  the 
largest  and  handsomest  is  the  Burger-Spital,  a  noble  hospital, 
on  whose  front  is  engraved,  Christo  in  paitperibus — To  Christ 
in  the  poor. 

The  great  church  of  the  city — which  was  a  Cathedral  church 
before  the  reformation,  is  an  immense  and  superb  Gothic  struc- 
ture, richly  adorned  with  endless  carvings  in  stone,  and  flanked 
by  two  lofty  square  towers.  We  were  not  allowed  to  exam- 
ine its  interior,  as  some  private  ceremony — whether  a  marriage 
or  baptism,  I  could  not  learn—was  about  to  be  celebrated  in  it. 
As  we  were  discoursing  about  it,  the  minister  passed  us,  to  enter 
the  church.  He  was  a  handsome  man— bare  headed — dressed 
in  a  long,  loose  robe,  girdled  around  his  loins,  and  his  head 


178  MEMORANDA    OF 

swallowed  up  in  a  muff  of  monstrous  dimensions.  The  dress 
was  rather  picturesque.  But  it  seemed  to  me  a  silly  excuse  for 
a  minister  of  the  gospel  to  dress  himself  like  a  zany — that  his 
ancestors  did  so  five  hundred  years  ago.  The  kingdom  of  God 
has  as  little  to  do  with  muffs  and  frocks,  as  it  has  with  meat  and 
drink. 

But  of  all  the  pleasant  places  about  Bern,  its  public  walks  are 
the  most  delightful.  Few  villages,  even  in  Switzerland,  are 
destitute  of  these  lovely  and  refreshing  promenades.  But  Bern 
is  rich  in  them.  There  are  few  spots  more  delicious  than  its 
Platform,  situated  in  the  heart  of  the  upper  town  which  is  built 
on  a  cliff  of  the  Aar;  and  overhanging  the  lower  town,  built  on 
the  narrow  margin  of  the  rapid  current.  On  one  side  is  the  ca- 
thedral ;  on  the  other  a  precipice  of  above  a  hundred  feet,  railed 
in,  and  the  incautious  warned  by  an  inscription  in  the  centre, 
that  a  restive  horse  once  plunged  over  it  with  his  rider.  The 
Platform  is  of  considerable  extent,  and  planted  with  numerous 
horse-chesnut  trees,  which  are  favorites  every  where  in  Europe. 
Below  you,  is  the  lower  town,  and  the  beautiful  Aar.  Beyond 
it,  the  rich  and  highly  adorned  country  on  its  borders,  skirted  by 
ranges  of  hills,  and  the  distance  shut  in  by  the  vast  ranges  of  the 
Oberland  Alps,  covered  with  everlasting  snow,  and  shooting  up 
their  high  peaks  into  the  sky.  The  majestic  pyramid  of  Niesen, 
the  sharp  and  frozen  Stockhorn,  the  graceful  and  lofty  propor- 
tions of  Shreckhorn,  Eiger,  and  Youngfraw ;  "  wild  but  not  rude, 
awful  but  not  austere."  Bathed  in  the  rich  light  of  Autumn — 
white,  all  white — and  so  richly,  dazzlingly  white ;  contrasting  by 
their  magnitude  and  their  color,  so  strongly  with  the  diminished 
and  beautiful  world  at  their  leet ;  these  great  mountains  fill  the 
mind  with  solemnity  and  seriousness.  You  walk  back  and  for- 
ward upon  this  Platform;  and  your  pace  becomes  more  measured, 
and  your  thoughts  more  elevated,  and  your  imagination  enlarged, 
and  your  feelings  tranquilized.  Your  whole  being  sympathises 
with  the  majesty  of  the  scene.  The  children  who  play  around 
you,  cease  to  be  boisterous  ;  the  very  laborer  pursues  his  voca- 
tion in  sedate  silence ;  and  none  but  an  idiot  or  madman  ever  ut- 
tered a  loud  laugh  while  gazing  upon  the  Alps. 


FOREIGN   TRAVEL.  179 


CHAPTER    XIX 


Canton  Freyburg— Joseph   Wolf— The   Country  of  Gruyeres— Pilgrims— City  of 
Freyburg— Great  Suspension  Bridge — The  Peasantry— Goitres— Roman  Anliqui- 


The  Canton  Freyburg  is  ranked  amongst  the  large  Cantons 
of  Switzerland.  It  is  situated  towards  the  western  side  of  the 
confederation;  and  contained  in  1831,  a  population  of  87,000 
souls,  of  whom  only  seven  or  eight  thousand  residing  in  the  dis- 
trict of  Morat,  (or  Murten,)  are  Reformed.  It  is  decidedly  a 
Catholic  Canton;  and  contains  not  only  establishments  of  Je- 
suits, but  several  extensive  ones  of  the  austere'and  unsocial  Car- 
thusians; who  seem  to  place  the  chief  good,  in  silence,  naked 
feet,  and  dirty  clothes.  Since  the  late  revolution  in  this  Canton, 
a  degree  of  religious  liberty  not  enjoyed  in  the  Catholic  Cantons 
generally,  has  been  allowed ;  though  even  here,  it  is  rather  a 
shy  toleration  than  any  real  freedom.  In  this  Canton,  the 
French  language  in  a  miserable  patois  is  spoken  as  extensively 
almost  as  the  German  :  but  this  is  the  limit  to  which  that  lan- 
guage has  yet  penetrated  the  country,  in  the  use  of  the  people 
at  large. 

There  are  several  establishments  of  the  professed  that  deserve 
particular  notice  on  one  account  or  other;  and  1  regretted  my 
inability  to  visit  them.  The  hermitage  of  Sainte  Madalaine,  a 
league  from  Freyberg,  is  said  to  be  cut  entirely  into  the  rock ; 
although  the  whole  establishment  is  four  hundred  feet  long,  and 
its  clock  tower  eighty  feet  high.  It  is,  however,  the  establish- 
ment of  Trappists  at  Valsainte,  nine  leagues  off,  which  possesses 


180  MEMORANDA    OF 

most  interest.  It  is  the  chief  place  of  this  singular  fraternity ; 
and  was  for  some  time  the  residence  of  the  missionary  Wolf. 
This  extraordinary  man  was  born  at  Bavaria  of  Jewish  parents, 
his  father  being  a  man  of  consequence  amongst  his  people  and 
a  Rabbi.  At  the  age  of  sixteen  years  he  was  baptised  by  a 
priest  at  Prague  in  Bohemia,  and  became  a  Papist.  After  some 
time  he  went  to  Rome,  and  spent  two  years  in  the  college  of  the 
Propaganda,  pursuing  his  studies.  He  was  dismissed  from  that 
institution,  and  found  his  way  to  fiwitzerland  ;  and  finally  into 
the  Convent  of  Trappi&t  Monks  at  Valsainte.  Here  he  remain- 
ed, until  he  became  disgusted  beyond  farther  endurance  with 
the  deceit  and  imposture  of  his  companions  ;  and  at  this  critical 
juncture  of  his  destiny  met  with  an  English  traveller,  at  whose 
suggestion  he  visited  England.  He  there  found  friends,  under 
whose  advice  he  spent  two  years  at  Oxford.  His  subsequent 
history  is  known,  as  well  as  his  extraordinary  efforts  and  sacri- 
fices in  the  cause  of  Christ  and  his  brethren  :  efforts  and  sacri- 
fices, attended  by  some  excentricities  and  errors,  vviiich  however 
they  are  to  be  regretted,  have  perhaps  too  seriously  weakened 
the  sympathy  of  the  Christian  world  in  his  behalf. 

The  road  from  Bern  lo  Freyburg,  and  thence  to  Lausanne  in 
the  Canton  Vaud^  over  a  distance  of  eighteeen  Swiss  leagues, 
passes  through  a  beautiful  and  well  cultivated  region,  composed 
of  a  constant  successsion  of  hills  and  valleys,  across  which  the 
route  generally  lies.  To  the  right,  the  Jura  mountains  which 
skirt  France  and  Switzerland,  gradually  rise  fiom  a  distant  dim 
line  along  the  horizon,  to  bold  and  rocky  promontories  which 
seem  much  nearer  than  they  really  are.  On  the  left,  the  moun- 
tains of  the  ancient  country  of  Gruyers,  famous  on  many  ac- 
counts, and  not  amongst  the  least  for  their  cheese — and  the 
sweet  and  stirring  music  of  their  cow-herds  ;  form  a  kind  of  low 
screen,  over  which  the  stupendous  Alps  lift  up  their  heads,  crown- 
ed with  a  diadem  of  pure,  brilliant,  and  everlasting  snow.  The 
Counts  of  Gruyers  lost  these  rich  hill  sides,  in  a  singular  way. 
Having  become  greatly  involved  by  their  extravagance — the 
evidences  of  their  liability  passed  into  the  hands  of  the  Bernese 
and  Fryburgers;  who  eventually  took  the  country  for  the  debt. 


FOREIGN   TRAVEL.  181 

By  a  strange  chain  of  circumstances  the  people  of  an  entire 
district  were  eaten  and  drunken,  from  subjects  of  a  petty  prince, 
into  repubh'cans;  and  that  without  any  intervention  of  their 
own.  I  am  not  able  to  say  what  influence  this  singular  lesson 
on  the  fruits  of  extravagance,  had  in  producing  the  edict  by 
which  from  the  year  1735  to  this  time,  the  sale  of  spirituous 
liquors  has  been  prohibited  in  these  mountains.  It  is  said  that 
the  consumption  of  coffee  is  greater  hercj  in  proportion  to  the 
number  and  wealth  of  the  people,  than  in  any  part  of  the  world. 
This  may  be  attributed  to  the  disuse  of  ardent  spirits.  Or  prob- 
ably to  the  general  habits  of  luxury  and  prodigality,  for  which 
the  wealthier  people  amongst  thern,  are  said  to  be  famous. 
These  qualities  are,  however,  so  far  from  being  common  to  their 
neighbours,  that  the  people  of  the  valley  of  Frutigen,  are  re- 
ported to  have  abstained  from  eating  meat  for  seven  years — that 
by  a  rigid  parsimony  they  might  hoard  the  sum  demanded  by 
their  barons,  as  the  price  of  exemption  from  all  imposts.  The 
Swiss  of  another  generation,  would  have  redeemed  their  liber- 
ties with  a  different  metal.  And  yet,  perhaps,  these  simple 
peasants  made  the  wiser  as  well  as  the  surer  purchase.  The 
shedding  of  human  blood  should  be  the  utmost  remedy ;  and 
that  only  against  intolerable  wrong.  Even  amongst  the  wisest 
of  the  heathen  it  was  a  principle  of  morals,  as  well  as  of  policy, 
that  the  sword  was  only,  ultima  ratio,  the  very  last  alternative. 
And  even  in  this  dire  extremity,  its  use  is  qualified  by  a  most 
instructive  limitation.  Ultima  ratio  regum.  Kings-^noi  man- 
kind at  large,  but  the  rulers  of  the  world,  have  been  the  great 
slaughter  mongers  of  it. 

At  the  village  of  Schmitten,  between  Bern  and  Freyburg,  we 
had  occasion  to  stop  for  a  few  moments,  and  were  overtaken  by 
a  company  of  pilgrims ;  who  were  returning  from  Einsiedlen  in 
the  Canton  Schwytz,  where  they  had  made  a  pilgrimage  to  the 
Benedictine  Abbey,  where  a  wooden  image  of  JYotre-Dame  des 
Eremites  presented  by  the  princess  Hildegarde  to  the  founder  of 
the  abbey,  attracts  yearly  crowds  of  pilgrims.  This  company 
consisted  of  thirteen  persons,  of  humble  appearance ;  of  whom 
three  were  females,  and  one  a  boy ;  the  remaining  nine  being 
Vol.  II.— 17 


182  MEMORANDA    OF 

younfir  and  athletic  men.  They  declined  ail  conversation,  except 
the  shortest  and  simplest  answers  to  such  questions  as  seemed 
to  them  worthy  of  a  response.  Amongst  those  not  answered 
was  that  designed  to  ascertain  their  place  of  abode ;  and  I  can 
therefore  form  no  idea  of  the  distance  they  had  gone  to  worship 
a  stock,  which  has  become  doubly  sacred  since  it  escaped  the 
fury  with  which  the  French  soldiers  in  1798  visited  some  other 
objects  about  the  abbey.  They  were  now  nearly  a  hundred 
miles  from  the  place  of  pilgrimage,  on  their  return  home.  And 
although  their  progress  was  necessarily  slow,  seeing  that  some 
or  all  of  them,  stopped  to  perform  an  act  of  worship  in  every 
church  and  chapel  and  before  every  cross  and  station-mark  they 
encountered  ;  yet  they  seemed  weary  and  harrassed  with  the 
length  of  their  way.  For  the  rest,  they  were  ragged,  filthy,  and 
haggard,  to  a  pitiable  degree;  and  presented  a  spectacle  well 
calculated  to  humble  our  hearts  in  the  view  of  what  human 
nature  is,  and  to  fill  them  with  sorrow  at  the  proof  of  what  it 
may  be  made. 

The  city  of  Freyburg  is  one  of  the  prettiest  in  Switzerland  ; 
though  one  of  the  least  frequented  by  travellers.  The  road  lead- 
ing through  it  is  not  quite  so  level  as  that  by  Morat ;  and  all 
sorts  of  excuses  are  made  by  owners  and  drivers  of  post  horses, 
to  prevent  persons  from  taking  the  route  by  it.  1  resolved  to 
see  it ;  and  Was  doubly  fixed  in  that  purpose  on  finding  that  it 
lay  precisely  in  my  way,  from  which  I  must  turn  aside  to  avoid 
it.  Its  situation  is  exceedingly  romantic ;  the  country  around 
it  beautiful;  the  public  edifices  well  worthy  of  inspection;  and 
its  institutions  curious,  and  antique.  There  are  few  places  in 
Switzerland,  where  I  would  suppose  a  traveller  could  pass  a 
short  time  more  pleasantly.  It  possesses  one  monument  of  taste 
and  enterprise,  1  might  almost  say  magnificence,  which  equals 
any  thing  of  the  kind,  perhaps  in  the  world.  The  town  is  situ- 
ated on  the  south  bank  of  the  river  Savine,  whose  clifis  are 
abrupt  and  high.  Above  these  clififs,  and  receding  a  Utile  more 
from  the  stream,  are  still  higher  elevations ;  upon  the  sloping 
face  of  one  of  which  the  little  city  stands,  with  its  white  houses, 
and  ancient  walls  ;  which  cross  the  river  and  encompass  a  part 


FOREIGN    TRAVEL.  183 

of  the  town  built  on  the  marcrin  of  the  water,  on  the  north  side 
of  the  Savine.  The  work  of  which  I  speak,  is  a  superb  suspen- 
sion brid<^e,  thrown  across  the  river  from  the  tops  of  the  chffs, 
and  hangintr  in  the  air  without  any  apparent  support ;  900  feet 
lono^,  and  140  feet  above  the  bed  of  the  river,  with  a  breadth  of 
perliaps  60  feet.  At  each  end,  on  the  cliff,  is  an  arch  of  consid" 
erable  height,  through  which  the  way  passes.  Over  these  are 
drawn  two  cords  of  a  diameter  of  six  inches,  which  are  com- 
posed of  fine  wires,  tightly  bound  together.  The  ends  of  these 
large  cords,  passed  over  the  tops  of  the  arches,  are  fastened  into 
the  cliffs  on  each  side  of  the  river,  at  a  distance  of  perhaps  a 
hundred  feet  from  the  arches,  and  nearly  on  a  level  with  their 
bases.  This  fastening,  and  the  fulcra  afforded  by  tlie  tops  of 
the  arches,  form  the  entire  support  of  the  bridge.  The  great 
cords  pass  across  the  river,  swagging  in  such  a  way  as  to  touch 
the  cone  of  the  bridge  about  the  centre  ;  the  bridge  itself  being 
slightly  arched.  The  timbers  of  the  bridge  are  fastened  to  the 
great  cords,  by  vertical  cords  of  one  inch  in  diameter,  made 
precisely  like  the  great  ones,  and  occurring  at  intervals  of  a  few 
feet.  It  has  been  in  tise  for  about  two  years ;  and  the  heaviest 
burdens,  in  all  sorts  of  vehicles  carried  over  it.  Its  balance  is 
so  perfect,  that  it  trembles  at  the  tread  of  a  single  passenger.  I 
was  not  able  to  learn  the  name  of  the  architect ;  and  got  for 
answer,  "Oh!  he  is  some  Frenchman  ;  1  believe  from  Lyons," 
It  is  a  work  full  of  genius  and  science  ;  in  which  the  simple  and 
beautiful  structure  is  surpassed  only  by  the  hardy  and  grand 
conception.  I  saw  various  advertisements  of  the  first  scheme 
of  the  seventh  class  of  the  lotteries,  by  the  proceeds  of  which 
this  noble  work  is  to  be  paid  for :  and  I  bewailed  the  sad  neces- 
sity by  which  ignorance  and  vice  seem  doomed  to  obscure  all 
that  is  greatest,  and  degrade  all  that  is  most  useful  amongst 
men. 

The  village  of  Payerne,  (called  in  German  Peterlingenj) 
although  within  four  or  five  leagues  of  the  town  of  Freyburg, 
is  situated  in  the  Canton  Vaud.  It  is  seated  in  the  midst  of 
rich  and  highly  cultivated  fields,  lately  stripped,  when  I  savy 
them,  of  crops  of  peas,  tobacco,  and  hemp ;  and  Ipokiqg  iflQr§ 


184 


MEMORANDA  OF 


like  the  best  portions  of  our  middle  and  western  states,  than 
any  part  of  Switzerland  I  had  seen.  We  tarried  an  hour  in  the 
place  for  our  driver  to  rest  his  horses — during  which,  I  had  an 
opportunity  of  seeing  a  large  collection  of  the  people  from  the 
vicinage  at  their  weekly  market.  I  observed  here  very  strikingly 
exhibited,  several  peculiarities  of  the  dress  of  the  men  of  the 
middle  and  poorer  classes,  which  are  in  a  considerable  degree 
common  to  other  cantons.  Very  few  wear  woollen  clothes ;  and 
the  hemp  and  cotton  fabrics  which  poorly  supply  their  place  in 
a  climate  so  damp  and  cold,  are  thin  and  coarse.  But  even 
these  garments  never  fit  the  person.  Short  in  the  arms,  short 
in  the  legs,  narrow  in  the  back,  the  short  tails  sticking  fantasti- 
cally out,  or  lapping  over  each  other,  with  every  other  possible 
defect  of  cut  and  make ;  the  whole  effect  is  such,  that  the 
wearer  looks  uncomfortable  and  ludicrous.  This  is  nearly 
universal,  and  is,  I  think,  a  principal  reason  why  the  peasants 
of  the  country  are  always  considered  ugly.  Their  wives  and 
sisters  may  treat  them  thus  through  incapacity ;  and  indeed 
their  hands  seem  fully  as  familiar  with  the  hoe  and  plough,  as 
with  the  distaff'  and  needle.  But  a  very  slight  glance  at  the 
females  of  this  region,  is  enough  to  make  one  suspect  that  a 
secret  purpose  lurks  at  the  bottom  of  their  terrible  handy-work 
for  the  other  sex.  They  are  not  perhaps  to  be  thought  hard  of 
for  desiring  their  husbands  to  look  somewhat  like  themselves ; 
and  of  all  the  female  sex  I  had  then  ever  seen,  these  impressed 
me  with  the  most  disgust.  To  say  nothing  of  any  thing  else, 
three  women  out  of  every  four  had  goitres  of  the  most  terrible 
dimensions :  and  I  am  rather  inclined  to  believe,  that  if  a  strict 
scrutiny  were  allowed,  a  large  part  of  the  remainder  would  -^be 
found  not  wholly  free  from  them.  I  had  observed  a  tew  persons 
before,  with  this  revolting  disease ;  which  had  from  the  first 
excessively  offended  my  sight,  on  account  perhaps,  of  ils  rare 
occurrence  in  America.  But  to  be  thrown  in  an  instant,  amongst 
five  hundred  women,  nearly  all  of  whom  were  deformed  in  the 
throat,  and  very  many  to  a  degree  scarcely  admitting  of  belief; 
shocked  me  beyond  expression. 
There  is  no  feeling  more  instinctive  in  the  breast  of  civilized 


FOREIGN   TRAYEt.  185 

and  enlightened  man,  than  tenderness  and  veneration  towards 
all  that  is  called  woman.  The  debt  of  gratitude  to  our  mothers 
which  nothing  can  repay,  heightened  by  the  recollection  of  the 
tears  we  have  wrung  from  their  sacred  eyes,  serves  to  give  to 
every  aged  woman  a  title  to  our  reverence.  The  inexpressible 
tenderness  of  a  father's  heart  overflows  towards  every  bright 
look  of  maiden  beauty,  that  recalls  the  name  of  daughter.  And 
there  is  not  a  step  of  sedate  and  matron-like  dignity  and  grace, 
that  does  not  fill  the  memory,  the  imagination  and  the  heart, 
with  that  form  which  is  the  centre  of  every  blessed  picture  of 
life.  How  much  of  its  sweetness,  yea  how  much  of  its  dignity 
and  virtue,  does  life  owe  to  these  hallowed  relationships  !  For 
my  part,  I  felt  as  if  a  calamity  had  overtaken  me,  when  I  found 
myself  irresistibly  repelled  from  the  indulgence  of  such  kindly 
feelings  towards  such  multitudes,  by  what  could  only  be  called  a 
misfortune :  and  my  heart  upbraided  me  for  a  fastidiousness  of 
taste,  as  insuperable  as  it  is  perhaps  indefensible.  It  would 
break  my  heart  to  dwell  amongst  such  sights. 

The  village  of  Milden,  still  nearer  to  Lausanne,  is  not  perhaps 
worthy  of  special  mention  on  its  own  account;  and  I  shall 
remember  it  principally  as  the  spot  where  I  saw  a  block  of  de- 
faced stone,  a  few  feet  high,  and  of  about  half  the  width  of  its 
height,  covered  with  characters,  which  the  "  tooth  of  time"  has 
in  a  degree  consumed.  But  that  stone  has  the  simplicity  and 
beauty  which  every  where  distinguished  the  Roman  altar ;  and 
it  tells  more  eloquently,  in  its  disfigured  solitude,  the  tale  of  ruin 
which  it  alone  is  left  to  record,  than  words  could  repeat.  It  is 
the  only  relic  of  what  was  once  a  Roman  city !  All  that  abides 
to  connect  the  idle  lounger  through  these  crooked  streets,  with 
heroic  generations  that  have  been  dust  for  so  many  centuries ! 
They  who  say  they  have  deciphered  the  inscription  make  it  an- 
nounce that  Quintus  ^lius,  priest  of  Augustus,  had  erected  at 
his  own  expense,  this  altar,  to  Jupiter  Optimus  Maximus,  and  to 
Juno  Regina;  and  that  he  had  given  three-quarters  of  a  million 
of  Sesterces  (about  $20,000)  to  the  city  of  Minidunum  for  the 
construction  of  a  gymnasium :  upon  condition  that  if  the  money 
17» 


186  MEMORANDA    OF 

were  not  applied  to  this  use,  it  should  appertain  as  a  legacy  to 
the  city  of  Aventicum. 

I  am  solaced  by  ihe  belief,  that  this  is  the  real  import  of  the 
inscription.  Religion  is  the  first  necessity  of  man ;  learning  his 
chiefest  accomplishment;  enlarged  and  wise  benevolence,  his 
highest  excellence.  It  is  touching  to  behold  his  memorial  of  the 
indwelling  power  of  that  which  pertains  to  every  generation, 
surviving  all  that  was  peculiar  to  the  most  majestic  of  them  all. 
It  pertains  to  nature,  and  therefore  it  is  meet,  that  its  memorials 
should  live  when  all  others  die.  The  brook  which  murmurs  past 
these  walls,  the  mountain  which  ii"owns  on  them  from  afar,  abide 
in  their  separate  and  changeless  beauty  and  grandeur,  just  as 
when  Minidunum  and  Aventicum,  and  Quintus  ^lius  and  the 
wise  Augustus,  lived  to  gaze  upon  them.  And  so  they  will 
abide,  when  other  ages  in  distant  posterity  retain  of  us  less 
traces  it  may  be,  than  this  little  stone.  But  in  those  most  distant 
ages  as  in  these  passing  now  and  in  those  buried  in  an  unknown 
antiquity,  the  nature  of  man  will  stand  changeless  as  the  uni- 
verse around  him.  How  it  rejoices  the  heart  to  know  that  with 
the  blessing  of  God,  the  very  essence  of  things  involves  the 
necessity,  that  sustained  efforts  to  do  man  good  are  obliged  to 
succeed !  For  they  are  based  in  necessities  and  impulses,  stronger 
than  all  that  is  within  and  without  united ;  and  so  enduring 
that  we  can  be  ruined  only  by  their  mis-direction.  Man  will 
have  a  God.  Will  the  Christian  give  him  his  ?  Man  will  sub- 
mit mimself  to  be  taught  by  those  wiser  than  he.  Will  the 
enlightened  give  him  truth  ?  Man's  gifts  are  lavished  evermore, 
where  his  affections  cleave.  Will  the  wise  present  him  with 
objects  worthy  of  a  magnificent  charity  ? 


FOREIGN   TRAVEL.  187 


CHAPTER    XX 


Canton  Vaud— Religious  State— Momiers— Dr.  Malan— Felix  NefF— Political  Condi- 
tion of  the  Canton— Approach  to  Lausanne— The  City  Itself— Gibbon,  the  Histo- 
rian—The Cathedral— Felix  V.— The  Council  of  Basle— The  Reigning  Prince  of 
Hesse  Cassel— Manners  of  the  Great— The  Special  Use  of  German  Princes- 
Addition  of  Canton  Vaud  to  the  Helvetic  Confederation. 


The  Canton  Vaud,  is  one  of  the  most  considerable  in  the 
Helvetic  confederation,  both  in  population  and  territorial  extent : 
that  is  to  say,  if  such  language  can  be  used,  of  a  little  state 
containing  180,000  people.  Of  these  not  above  four  thousand 
are  called  Catholics  ;  the  remainder  not  only  professing  the 
Reformed  religion,  but  there  is  great  reason  to  believe  enjoying 
evangelical  ministrations  of  the  word  of  life  to  a  greater  propor- 
tionate extent,  than  any  other  part  of  the  continent  of  Europe. 

It  is  known  to  the  religious  world,  that  the  Christians  of  this 
Canton  have,  during  the  present  generation,  suffered  a  most 
rigorous  oppression — I  should  perhaps  call  it — from  their  breth- 
ren professing  the  same  faith  with  themselves.  This  state  of 
things  las.ted  six  or  eight  years,  during  which  persons  were 
exiled,  imprisoned,  fined,  and  prohibited  from  assembling  for 
worship ;  and  otherwise  vexed  and  pursued  in  the  name  of  the 
laws,  and  under  the  procurement  of  the  public  authorities  and 
nominally  Reformed  pastors ;  avowedly  because  they  professed 
doctrines  and  pursued  a  course  of  life  and  worship,  which  need 
be  no  further  explained  to  an  American  reader,  than  to  say  they 
were  such  as  all  the  Christians  of  that  country  aim  at.    Happily, 


188  MEMORANDA    OF 

this  folly  and  wickedness  defeated  its  own  ends :  or  rather  God 
made  the  wrath  of  man  praise  him,  and  graciously  restrained 
the  remainder  thereof.  For  the  last  four  or  five  years  unlimited 
freedom  of  worship  has  been  enjoyed  ;  and  at  this  time,  there 
are  above  a  hundred  pastors  in  the  Canton  Vaud,  who  receive 
the  truth  in  the  love  of  it,  and  preach  it  faithfully  and  zealously 
to  the  people.  "  It  is  a  blessed  Canton,"  said  one  of  the  most 
active  and  enlightened  Christians  of  Switzerland  to  me,  one  noi 
himself  a  citizen  of  Vaud. 

The  state  of  things  which  preceded  and  ushered  in  this  revi- 
val of  religion  throughout  the  Canton  Vaud,  as  well  as  in  other 
parts  of  Switzerland,  and  indeed  in  most  countries  of  Europe  ; 
was  extremely  curious  and  interesting.  I  mention  this  Canton 
only,  at  the  present  time.  I  asked  Dr.  Malan,  at  Geneva,  what 
was  a  Momier.  I  had  heard  the  word  used,  in  every  sense, 
gojd  and  bad  ;  and  although  I  understood  in  general  that  a  re- 
ligious sect  was  designated  by  it,  I  was  somewhat  confused 
by  its  various  imports.  "  Ah !"  said  the  venerable  man,  "  you 
speak  to  the  king  of  the  Momiers — to  the  first,  perhaps,  who 
was  branded  with  the  name."  He  then  proceeded  to  inform  me 
shortly,  of  his  own  conversion  to  God  ;  of  the  privation  of  his 
appointment  of  instructor  of  youth  in  Geneva,  on  that  account ; 
of  his  lack  of  permission  to  preach,  the  contempt  of  his  brethren, 
and  the  scorn  of  his  fellovv-ciiizens.  In  this  exigency,  his  habit 
was  to  preach  as  he  could  in  the  adjoining  villages  of  France, 
which  are  near  enough  for  persons  from  Geneva  to  attend. 
The  same  malice  which  oppressed  him  at  home,  followed  to 
revile  him  in  the  regions  round  about.  To  ridicule  him,  it  was 
advertised  that  the  great  Momier  would  exhibit,  at  such  and 
such  times  and  places  ;  the  word  answering  precisely  to  a  noun 
personal,  made  out  of  our  word  mummery.  At  first  he  was  not 
aware  that  he  was  meant ;  but  supposed  that  as  the  habits  of 
the  place  and  time  encouraged  Sabbath  day  exhibitions  of  all 
kinds,  it  was  a  real  juggler  who  had  availed  himself  of  the 
crowd,  and  would  actually  exhibit  liis  mountebank  tricks. — 
"  When  I  found  out  the  truth,"  said  he,  with  his  dark  eyes 


FOREIGN   TRAVEL.  189 

beaming  liojht,  "  I  was  full  of  joy.  Then  I  knew  it  was  a  great 
thing.  I  did  not  see  it  so  plain  before.  They  had  given  it  a 
name  ;  it  is  a  great  work ;  they  have  so  treated  great  works 
before  :  I  saw  that  God  intended  great  things  !"  The  event  has 
fully  justified  the.  expectations  of  the  single  hearted  Christian. 
And  amidst  the  trials  and  sorrows  of  an  apostleship,  full  of  many 
that  wound  the  spirit  and  break  the  heart ;  God  has  permitted 
his  servant  to  see  the  truth  of  that  in  which  he  trusted.  It  is  a 
great  work.  Who  shall  say  how  much  greater  it  is  destined 
to  become ! 

Amongst  the  early  converts,  either  through  the  agency  of  Dr. 
Malan,  or  perhaps  through  the  same  instrumentality  to  which 
his  own  conversion  may  he  attributed,  was  Felix  NefF.  "The 
most  gifted  man,  both  in  body  and  mind,  I  ever  knew,  was  Felix 
NefF."  These  words  were  spoken  to  me,  by  professor  Gaussen 
of  Geneva.  NefF  was  a  soldier  in  the  garrison  of  Geneva ;  was 
converted — became  a  minister  of  Jesus  Christ — and  was  per- 
haps more  directly  successful,  and  more  wonderfully  blessed  in 
his  labours,  than  any  man  of  this  extraordinary  age.  It  was 
through  his  instrumentality  that  the  revival  amongst  the  pastors 
in  the  Canton  Vaud  commenced  ;  and  that  at  a  time  when  he 
was  but  imperfectly  educated,  and  not  licensed  to  preach.  He 
went  on  foot,  from  one  parish  to  another,  over  the  Canton— vis- 
iting the  pastors.  To  these  he  preached;  not  directly,  but  with 
a  pathos,  subtility,  and  demonstration,  which  characterized  the 
man,  and  marked  him  as  a  chief  captain  in  the  army  of  the 
Lord.  His  instructions  to  the  pastors,  (what  a  phrase  have  I 
used— what  a  lesson  is  contained  in  it— a  discharged  soldier 
teach  pastors  religion !)  His  instructions,  for  they  were  truly 
such,  were  confined  exclusively  to  the  narration  of  what  he  had 
seen,  heard,  and  experienced.  He  asked  leave  to  tell  what  God 
had  done  for  his  soul.  The  pastor  listened  in  the  retirement  of 
his  study  :  and  the  truth  slew  him  !  He  wished  to  make  known 
what  he  had  witnessed,  of  the  work  of  the  Lord  on  the  heart  of 
such,  or  such  a  one.  The  pastor  heard — and  the  scales  fell  from 
his  eyes.  It  was  as  the  water  of  Marah,  with  the  bitterness  of 
sin  gushing  from  the  head  of  the  fountain ;  and  the  servant  of 


190  MEMORANDA    OF 

the  Lord  cast  in  of  the  tree  of  life  eternal,  and  the  sweetness  of 
heaven  re-visited  the  stream.  Will  it  be  credited,  that  I  search- 
ed the  principal  book  stores  in  Geneva  for  some  memoir  of  Felix 
Neff,  and  found  none?  Can  it  be  believed  that  I  was  told  in  all 
I  searched,  that  they  had  never  before  heard  of  the  man  ! 

I  should  not  omit  to  state,  that  Canton  Vaud  has  taken  the  lead 
in  support  of  popular  sentiments  and  just  and  liberal  views  in 
Swhzerland,  for  some  years  past.  Indeed  the  toleration  of  piety 
dates  from  the  revolution  in  Vaud  following  that  of  July  in 
France  :  while  on  the  other  hand  the  Christians  of  the  Canton, 
have  with  equal  fervency  espoused  the  cause  of  freedom.  It  is 
surely  true  that  the  Christian  religion,  is  perfectly  compatible 
with  the  existence  of  all  kinds  of  social  systems,  not  sinful  in 
themselves  ;  and  that  chiefly,  because  it  has  nothing  to  do  with 
any  sort  of  system,  except  to  teach  all  men  to  do  perfectly  all 
their  duties.  But  it  is  just  as  true,  that  the  principles  of  Chris- 
tianity are  principles  of  justice  to  all,  mercy  to  the  unfortunate, 
and  humility  before  God  ;  and  that  its  spirit  is  as  widely  different 
from  that  of  most  of  the  existing  institutions  of  the  world,  as 
selfishness,  cruelty,  and  oppression,  are  removed  from  the  princi- 
ples already  stated.  Let  us,  therefore,  rejoice  doubly  in  such 
manifestations  as  these,  that  true  religion  is  at  length  permitted 
to  compensate  mankind  for  the  horrors  which  false  religion  has 
perpetrated  against  them.  They  who  love  freedom  more  than 
they  love  virtue, — alas !  too  great  a  portion  of  our  kind — will 
learn  at  length  that  true  religion  is  the  twin  sister  of  well  regu- 
lated freedom.  And  false  religion,  welded  to  the  worst  corruf>- 
tion  of  thrones,  to  the  severest  oppressions  of  the  privileged 
orders,  to  all  the  wrongs  of  the  poor,  and  all  the  sufferings  of  the 
miserable;  must  perish  before  the  united  force  of  temporal  and 
eternal  interests,  the  combined  energy  of  heaven  and  earth. 

As  the  evening  began  to  draw  around  us,  we  approached 
Lausanne.  "Behold  Mount  Blanc,"  said  the  voiturier,  stopping 
his  horses  upon  the  summit  of  a  hill.  Not  long  afterwards,  he 
paused  again,  saying  "  Lac  Leman,"  and  indicating  with  his 
hand  the  sheet  of  still  water,  stretched  like  a  beautiful  bow  at 
the  base  of  the  surrounding  mountains.    The  largest  and  lover. 


i 


FOREIGN   TRAVEL.  191 

liest  of  the  Swiss  lakes-^the  loftiest  and  most  majestic  of  all  the 
mountains  in  the  northern  hemisphere,  greeted  us  for  the  first 
time,  almost  at  the  same  moment !  A  wild  and  varied  landscape, 
such  as  the  world  has  few  like,  is  hefore  and  around  the  traveller 
as  he  descends  by  this  route  into  the  delicious  valley  of  the 
Leman.  To  the  right  are  the  steep  and  naked  ridges  of  the 
Jura,  around  whose  base  the  lake  seems  drawn  from  you  in  the 
most  graceful  arc.  Between  the  bare  mountain  and  the  smiling 
waters,  a  belt  of  verdure  rich  as  one  can  imagine,  full  of  vines 
and  grain  and  fruit  trees — and  the  habitations  of  man,  stretches 
entirely  to  Geneva.  To  the  left,  and  in  front  across  the  lake, 
the  dark  looking  hills  of  the  neighbouring  cantons  and  of  Chab* 
lais  in  Savoy,  are  the  first  steps  of  the  eternal  Alps ;  which  far 
off  seem  to  lean  upon  the  sky.  Above  them  all,  far  to  the  right, 
towers  the  triple  head  of  Mount  Blanc,  ruling  in  cold  and  silent 
grandeur,  the  frozen  world  around  him.  Lausanne,  elevated 
upon  several  hills  considerably  above  the  lake,  but  still  more 
belovv  the  level  of  the  country  behind  it,  is  seated  upon  the  outer 
edge  of  the  lake ;  and  while  it  forms  a  striking  object  in  the 
general  picture,  furnishes  from  its  various  promenades  the  most 
delightful  views  of  the  other  parts  of  it. 

This  city  is  the  capital  of  the  Canton,  and  one  of  the  largest 
and  most  pleasant  in  Switzerland.  It  is  furnished  with  the  apa* 
ratus  of  chateau,  cathedral,  terrace,  fountain,  &c.,  belonging  as 
appears  by  indispensable  necessity  to  all  continental  cities  of  any 
pretension.  The  still  more  important  accompaniment  of  libra- 
ries, colleges,  museums,  hospitals,  &c.,  are  also  found  here,  on 
the  same  scale  of  liberal  and  wise  provision  which  distinguishes 
almost  all  the  cantons.  Its  advantages^  its  pleasures,  its  climate, 
its  beauty,  and  perhaps  more  than  either,  its  liberal  and  generous 
policy  towards  strangers,  have  made  the  Canton  Vaud  and 
especially  the  town  of  Lausanne,  a  place  of  great  resort  for 
various  classes  of  them.  Men  of  letters,  men  of  reduced  cir- 
cumstances, men  suspected,  men  oppressed  ;  at  Lausanne  there 
are  generally  to  be  found  under  these  and  various  other  classes, 
persons  from  most  countries  of  Europe.  The  costume,  language 
and  leatures  of  them  all,  may  be  seen  and  heard  in  the  dark  and 


19^  MEMORANDA    OF 

Steep  streets ;  and  combine  with  the  picturesque  appearance  of 
the  place  itself,  to  make  its  impression  very  striking.  Amongst 
the  curiosities  of  the  place,  strangers  are  shown  the  library  of 
the  Spaniard  Benial  de  Quiros,  added  to  that  of  the  city  near  a 
century  ago ;  and  the  house  in  which  Gibbon  wrote  his  great 
work  on  the  Decline  and  Fall  of  the  Roman  Empire*  The  latter 
is  a  plain  stone  building,  rather  low,  situated  in  the  rear  of  the 
church  of  St.  Francis,  near  to  an  ancient  building  which  once 
appertained  to  a  Convent  of  Franciscan  Friars,  but  is  now  more 
usefully  employed  as  the  kitchen  of  a  hospital.  It  is  at  present 
owned  and  occupied  by  a  momier ;  a  believer  in  that  religion, 
which  Gibbon  ridiculed,  a  worshipper  of  that  Saviour  whose 
disciples,  the  philosophic  historian  falsified  the  truth  of  history 
and  perverted  the  principles  of  philosophy  that  he  might  traduce. 
Great  as  this  change  is,  it  happily  indicates  one  somewhat  re- 
serabling  it,  commensurate  with  the  whole  face  of  the  Christian 
world.  There  are  probably  i'ew  who  read  the  works  of  Gibbon 
who  do  not  consider  his  attacks  on  the  Christian  religion,  as  de- 
cided stains  upon  them.  But  in  his  own  generation  perhaps  an 
equally  great  proportion  of  the  same  class  of  persons,  cherished 
them  as  capital  excellencies ;  while  he  himself  regarded  them  as 
furnishing  one  of  the  best  evidences  of  the  depth  of  his  learning, 
and  the  greatness  of  his  capacity.  A  great  cycle  in  human 
thought  has  been  accomplished.  We  have  passed  through  an 
era  in  which  every  thing  was  dissolved  ;  and  the  sharp  ingredi- 
ents which  were  thrown  into  the  mass,  were  necessary  to  disen- 
gage the  foreign  and  hurtful  materials,  and  then  subside  with 
the  impurities  which  generations  of  sin  and  error  had  accumu- 
lated. We  have  returned  to  a  posture  more  elevated  than  any 
occupied  by  man,  snice  the  days  of  the  Apostles.  We  are  better 
off  than  after  the  revival  of  letters ;  for  knowledge  is  more 
diffused  and  religion  more  general.  We  are  happier  in  our  posi- 
tion, than  they  were  who  saw  the  best  days  which  the  reforma- 
tion ushered  in ;  for  now  we  stand  upon  the  ruins  of  all  those 
opinions,  of  which  the  reformers  only  scaled  the  ramparts.  Or 
more  strictly  speaking,  the  events  which  have  progressed  with 
power  in  the  world  since  the  American  revolution,  and  which  have 


FOREIGN   TRAVEL.  193 

received  so  great  an  additional  impulse  in  Europe  since  that  of 
France  of  1789;  have  produced  upon  all  human  interests  pre- 
cisely the  effects,  which  the  reformation  did  in  regard  to  religion. 
Right  ideas  have  the  mastery :  it  is  power,  brute  force  alone 
that  holds  society  in  check.  The  heart  of  the  world  is  accessi- 
ble at  ever  pore,  to  the  naked,  simple,  glorious  power  of  truth. 
The  time  for  the  life  from  the  dead  is  come,  for  the  world.  If 
the  church  of  Christ  be  faithful,  a  career  of  blessedness  is  before 
her,  of  which  all  past  generations  have  seen  but  the  twilight. 

The  Cathedral  at  Lausanne,  which  is  regarded  as  one  of  the 
finest  Gothic  edifices  in  Europe,  was  once  considered  also  pecu- 
liarly sacred.  It  was  consecrated  by  one  Pope,  and  the  remains 
of  another  still  repose  in  one  of  its  aisles.  The  first  was  Greg- 
ory X.,  the  other  Felix  V.  The  latter  deserves  the  admiration 
of  posterity,  for  an  act  of  rare  and  noble  self-denial,  which  is 
nearly  unique  in  the  history  of  the  Papacy.  The  Council  of 
Basle  had  deposed  the  reigning  Pope,  and  elected  the  Count  of 
Savoy,  who  took  the  title  of  Felix  V.  That  the  Council  had 
ample  power  to  do  both  these  acts,  had  been  expressly  settled 
as  of  faith,  by  the  Council  of  Constance.  But  the  reigning 
Pope  and  his  faction,  chose  to  regard  their  interests  as  more 
infallibly  revealed,  than  the  will  of  God  could  be  to  a  general 
council ;  although  they  held  as  of  faith,  that  such  a  council 
spake  as  with  the  voice  of  God.  But  they  evaded  this  conclu- 
sion by  denying  that  the  Council  of  Basle  was  holy,  general,  or 
oscumenical :  a  denial  which  robs  them  of  the  countenance  of 
one  of  the  most  respectable  assemblies  of  Papal  divines  that  ever 
met.  Felix  V.,  after  accepting  the  tripple  crown,  and  waiting 
vseveral  years  without  violence  or  bitterness,  to  see  if  the  ultra- 
montaine  party  would  submit  to  the  voice  of  the  Council  and 
the  general  wish  of  the  Papal  church :  found  himself  reduced  to 
the  necessity  of  taking  up  arms  to  subdue  the  anti-pope — cre- 
ating a  permanent  schism  by  tolerating  him  longer,  or  abdicating 
the  tiara.  With  the  spirit  of  a  benevolent  man,  and  a  wise 
prince — may  we  not  hope  also  of  an  Immble  Christian,  he  chose 
the  last  alternative,  and  resigned  the  Papacy,  in  this  cathedral, 
in  the  year  1449.    I  trod  upon  his  ashes  with  profound  rever- 

VOL.  II.— 18 


194  MEMORANDA    OF 

ence ;  and  looked  upon  his  defaced  monument  with  a  feehng  of 
kindly  remembrance,  strongly  contrasting  with  the  coldness,  per- 
haps contempt,  with  which  I  regarded  the  pompous  titles  of  the 
dead  barons,  and  the  carved  marble  of  the  mouldering  prelates 
around  him.  His  successors  in  the  county  of  Savoy,  are  at 
the  present  moment  kings  of  Sardinia  :  and  it  is  not  improbable 
they  may  yet  rule  over  all  northern  Italy.  The  reigning  pontiff 
and  all  who  have  preceded  him  for  nearly  four  centuries,  are  the 
successors  of  the  anti-pope  condemned  and  justly  deposed  by 
the  Council  of  Basle;  which  had  every  mark  by  which  the 
Papists  themselves  define  a  general  council,  in  a  greater  degree 
than  most  of  those  they  regard  as  such ;  and  this  additionally 
that  it  composed,  as  they  say,  the  great  Hussite  schism.  Either 
a  general  council  is  not  infallible,  or  the  Popes  for  four  centuries 
have  had  only  an  anti-papal,  instead  of  an  apostolical  succession 
— or  the  Council  of  Basle  was  an  erroneous  and  schismatical 
assembly,  instigated  by  the  devil.  If  this  last  alternative  be  ad- 
mitted, no  human  ingenuity  can  prescribe  rules  by  which  a  true 
general  council  can  be  distinguished  from  a  false  one  ;  and  there- 
fore the  faith  of  Rome  is  built  on  the  sand.  If  either  of  the  two 
former  suppositions  be  true,  Rome  can  have  no  faith  at  all.  But 
one  of  the  three  is  obliged  to  be  true,  as  the  three  cover  every 
possible  supposition  in  the  case. 

There  was  a  curious  point  in  the  manners  of  the  great,  acci- 
dentally exhibited  to  me  in  great  nakedness,  at  Lausanne. — 
Though  grown  familiar  with  the  appearance  of  soldiers,  I  thought 
there  were  rather  more  than  the  usual  portion,  lounging  before 
and  about  the  galleries  of  the  hotel  at  which  I  stopped.  On 
asking  what  it  meant,  I  was  told  they  belonged  to  the  household 
of  the  prince  of  Hesse  Cassel,  who  was  then  a  lodger  in  the 
hotel.  Further  enquiries  revealed  the  fact  that  his  highness, 
(whether  royal  or  merely  serene,  t  am  not  able  to  say,)  had  a 
family  with  him,  that  is  a  lady,  perhaps  several,  and  children. 
Another  step  in  the  investigation  brought  out  the  admission  that 
the  family,  although  really  his,  was  not  his  real  family.  That 
is,  his  highness  was  publicly  travelling  up  and  down  Europe, 
with    his  mistress  and   her  offspring.    I   thank   God  that  our 


FOREIGN    TRAVEL.  195 

republican  ideas  are  yet  sufficiently  in  accordance  with  virtue 
and  public  decency,  to  save  us  from  such  open  manifestaiions  of 
debauchery.  But  we  should  judge  the  prince  of  Hesse  Cassel 
harshly,  if  we  supposed  he  was  at  all  sensible  of  the  nature  of 
the  outrage  he  was  committing.  The  number  of  rulers  in 
Europe,  whether  great  or  small,  who  have  illegitimate  famihes, 
is  generally  equal  to  the  entire  actual  number ;  and  this  revolting 
truth  has  existed  so  long,  that  more  than  half  the  hereditary 
aristocracy  of  all  Europe,  is  justly  entitled  to  the  bar  sinister — 
the  badge  of  bastardy,  upon  their  proud  escutcheons.  Even 
those  royal  races  which  are  extinct  in  the  legitimate  lines,  sur- 
vive in  those  which  are  otherwise.  The  present  royal  family  of 
England,  has  but  three  feeble  remnants  of  the  large  family  of 
George  III.,  to  nourish  legitimate  rulers  for  the  British  realm,  in 
the  next  generation.  But  in  the  other  sort,  the  numbers  are  not 
so  easily  computed.  The  present "  most  religious  King"  William 
IV.,  the  "head  of  the  United  Church  of  England  and  Ireland," 
has  around  him  a  large  family  of  the  late  unhappy  actress  Mrs. 
Jordan;  which  he  is  so  benevolent  as  to  treat  as  if  it  was  his 
own,  and  to  allow,  in  the  use  of  the  name  Fitz-Clarence,  his 
own  ducal  appellation.  These  young  gentlemen  and  ladies  are 
the  attendants  of  royalty,  the  friends,  equals,  patrons  of  nobles, 
prelates,  magnates  of  England.  It  might  almost  be  conjectured 
that  something  of  this  sort  was  meant  in  England,  when  they 
spake  of  a  man's  being  well  horn  ! 

These  little  German  princes,  are  not  liowever,  to  be  under- 
rated. They  play  a  most  important  part  in  the  affairs  of  Europe. 
For  though  their  territories  be  often  too  small  for  an  ancient 
park,  and  their  cities  not  so  large  as  we  could  build  up  in  Amer- 
ica in  half  a  year ;  yet  this  is  all  the  better.  The  more  they  can 
be  multiplied,  the  better  for  Europe— for  the  world — for  poster- 
ity. There  are  certain  parts  of  the  earth  which  seem  peculiarly 
adapted  to  the  growth  of  certain  creatures.  The  Roman  empe- 
rors sent  to  one  province  for  the  brains  of  the  peacock,  and  to 
another  for  the  tongues  of  nightingales,  for  their  costly  repasts. 
Lybia,  in  all  ages,  is  the  land  of  the  lion  ;  Arabia  of  the  horse. 
Germany  breeds  queens !    These  little  nests  of  princes,  are  the 


196 


MEMORANDA    OF 


common  resort  of  the  failing  royalty  of  Europe.  They  contain 
too,  by  all  odds,  the  purest  races  extant;  for,  as  the  learned 
reader  wiU  remember,  the  restriction  of  royalty  to  royalty  in  the 
article  of  marriage,  was  a  thing  unknown  to  ancient  civilization  ; 
and  sprung  originally  from  the  barbarians  who  subverted  the 
Roman  empire  ;  amongst  whom,  their  kingly  races  were  consid- 
ered possessors  of  a  nature  superior  to  that  of  all  other  beings. 
Restricted  marriages  grew  naturally  out  of  this  idea  ;  and  keep- 
ing pace  with  the*  fiction  of  divine  right  have  stultified  and 
nearly  extinguished  the  blood  royal  of  Europe.  But  for  Ger- 
many, the  race  of  kings  would  have  expired :  and  there  it  has 
survived  chiefly  on  account  of  the  number  of  royal  houses. 

The  Canton  Vaud  appertained  for  a  long  time  to  the  county 
of  Savoy.  Conquered  afterwards  by  the  republic  of  Bern,  in  a 
war  undertaken  to  assist  its  allies  of  Geneva ;  it  remained  until 
the  close  of  the  last  century,  subject  to  that  Canton.  As  one  of 
the  consequences  perhaps  of  the  French  revolution,  it  revolted 
from  Bern;  and  when  the  great  powers  of  Europe  were  re-set- 
tUng  its  states  after  the  fall  of  Napoleon  in  1814,  this  Canton 
was  placed  in  the  Helvetic  confederation,  on  its  present  footing. 
It  is  said  that  the  personal  influence  of  General  la  Harpe — 
who  was  a  native  of  Vaud,  and  had  been  attached  to  the  person 
of  the  emperor  Alexander  in  his  youth,  was  the  great  obstacle 
to  the  re-union  of  the  two  Cantons  at  that  period,  it  has  no 
doubt  been  better  for  both,  that  the  intrigues  alleged  to  have 
been  entered  into  by  Bern,  to  obtain  the  re-annexation  of  Va.udj 
were  not  successful. 


1 

1 


i 


FOREIGN    TRAVEL.  197 


CHAPTER  XXI 


Shores  of  Lac  Leman— The  Vintage— Labourers— Common  Use  of  Wine— Lake 
Crait—Coppet— Madame  De  Stael— Pestalozzi— The  Residence  and  Literary 
Labours  of  Byron— Feniey— Voltaire— Estimate  of  hira. 


FiioM  Lausanne  to  Geneva,  is  about  forty  English  miles. 
The  road  passes  along  the  shore  of  Lac  Leman,  through  a 
region  of  great  fertility  and  beauty — sustaining  a  dense  popula- 
tion, and  cultivated  to  a  high  degree.  The  villages  have  an 
ancient  and  rather  sombre  appearance;  and  the  chateaus  are 
hid  away  in  the  midst  of  groves  of  the  walnut  and  pear  tree. 
The  valley  is  filled  with  vines,  which  were  still  covered  with 
their  delicious  fruit,  though  it  was  the  end  of  the  first  week  in 
October.  I  had  seen  no  vines  since  we  left  the  shores  of  lake 
Zug,  and  not  many  since  we  had  turned  our  backs  on  the  Rhine. 
It  surprised  me  to  find  so  many  and  so  extensive  vineyards, 
such  large  vines,  and  such  an  abundant  vintage  ;  and  especially 
to  see  the  white  grape,  which  is  generally  considered  less  hardy 
than  the  purple — predominating  every  where. 

During  my  stay  at  Geneva  I  had  an  opportunity  to  witness 
the  whole  process  of  the  vintage  in  this  part  of  Switzerland ; 
and  will,  in  a  few  words,  describe  it.  On  both  sides  of  the  lake 
the  white  grape  is  preferred — and  considered  more  suitable  to 
the  climate,  than  any  coloured  grape.  It  ripens  a  week  or  ten 
days  sooner :  and  on  the  south  side  of  the  lake,  as  the  frosts 
are  earlier,  the  vintage  is  commenced  sooner  than  on  the  north. 
18* 


198 


MEMORANDA  OP 


It  is  apparent  from  these  several  facts,  that  from  the  commence- 
ment of  the  vintage  of  the  white  grape  on  the  south  side  of  the 
lake,  to  the  close  of  that  of  tlie  red  grape  on  the  north  side, 
several  weeks  must  elapse.  Much  also  depends  on  the  season. 
But  in  general,  the  two  last  weeks  of  October  are  considered  the 
period  of  the  vintage.  The  labourers  at  this  season  are  paid 
about  eighteen  cents  a  day,  of  our  money,  to  the  females,  (who 
compose  the  larger  portion  of  them);  and  twenty-five  or  thirty 
cents  to  men.  They  are  also  fed  in  a  plain  way ;  and  permitted 
to  sleep  in  barns,  and  garrets.  These  labourers  for  the  region 
around  Geneva,  meet  in  a  sort  of  market  every  Sabbath  morn- 
ing, in  that  city ;  and  are  there  hired  for  a  period  of  one  week, 
or  less,  at  a  time.  The  process  of  gathering  the  grapes,  and 
making  the  wine  then  commences.  The  bunches  of  grapes  are 
picked  and  put  into  small  wooden  vessels ;  which,  as  fast  as  they 
are  filled,  are  emptied  into  a  larger  and  very  curious  funnel 
shaped  tub,  which  they  use  all  over  Europe  to  carry  liquids  in, 
upon  their  backs,  with  the  small  end  of  it  downwards.  This  is 
filled  with  bunches  of  grapes  ;  and  as  they  are  thrown  in,  a  man 
mashes  them  with  a  sort  of  a  pestle,  pretty  much  as  hommony 
is  beaten.  He  then  carries  them  to  the  wine  press,  which  is 
generally  erected  in  the  same  building  where  the  wine  is  stored. 
The  grapes  are  emptied  from  the  tub  upon  the  press  ;  and  after 
they  have  been  pressed  to  apparent  dryness,  the  pummice  is  cut 
up,  and  placed  in  hogsheads  with  water.  Thii^  after  soaking  is 
used  for  making  vinegar,  for  distillation  into  brandy,  or  as  an 
inferior  kind  of  wine,  usually  given  to  servants.  The  juice  of 
the  grape,  is  not  even  strained  ;  but  thick  and  far  more  dirty 
than  our  sweet  cider — it  is  taken  from  the  press  and  thrown  into 
hogsheads,  which  contain  several  hundred  gallons  each.  This 
finishes  the  process.  The  wine  ferments  clear,  and  in  three 
months  is  fit  for  use ;  being  much  improved  of  course,  by 
age.  But  it  is  neither  racked  off,  nor  adulterated,  nor  mixed. 
It  is  the  simple  juice  of  the  grape,  and  is  so  used  by  the  grower, 
or  so  passes  into  the  hands  of  the  wine  merchant.  What  befalls 
so  much  of  it  as  the  wine  dealer  handles,  is  best  known  to  the 
trade.    But  in  Europe  at  least,  I  presume  its  extreme  cheapness 


FOREIGN   TRAVEL.  199 

insures  it  against  any  adulteration  except  that  arising  from  the 
addition  of  water,  or  inferior  qualities  of  wine.  As  a  drink  it  is 
in  universal  use.  At  every  table  rf'  Hdte,  one  bottle  at  least  is 
set  by  every  plate — and  sometimes  two,  one  of  white  the  other 
of  red  wine.  At  the  cafes,  they  give  you  what  they  call 
dejeuner  a  la  fourchette,  (literally,  breakfast  with  a  fork,  a.  meal  to 
which  we  have  nothing  answering,)  at  prices  varying  according 
to  the  quality  of  the  repast  and  the  reputation  of  the  house,  from 
one  to  three  francs;  always  throwing  in  a  bottle  of  wine.  And 
this  is  a  bona-fide  expected  to  be  used  ;  for  what  a  European 
does  not  eat,  he  often  carries  off  in  his  pocket.  At  least  you 
will  generally  see  this  done,  with  the  sugar  left  after  taking  cof- 
fee. The  wine  commonly  drank,  is  as  a  beverage,  not  much 
superior  to  the  common  eider  of  America.  It  is  sufficiently 
strong  to  produce  intoxication,  especially  upon  those  not  accus- 
tomed to  stronger  drinks ;  and  the  observant  traveller  will  very 
soon  see  reason  enough  to  discredit  the  common  but  extremely 
erroneous  notion,  that  drunkenness  is  rare  in  those  countries  that 
produce  wine. 

The  lake  of  Geneva,  or  Leman,  like  several  of  the  smaller 
lakes  of  Switzerland,  is  furnished  with  two  or  three  comfortable 
steam  boats ;  which  during  the  greater  part  of  the  year  make 
daily  voyages  around  it.  It  also  possesses  some  water  craft  of 
a  different  kind,  and  of  a  very  beautiful  construction  and  equip- 
age.  Small  vessels  with  narrow  keels  and  sharp  bows  and 
sterns,  and  rigged  with  a  false  deck  extending  over  the  gunwales, 
so  as  to  carry  considerable  stuff.  They  are  furnished  ordinarily 
with  two  masts,  which  are  short  and  made  of  a  single  piece. 
To  each  of  these  is  rigged  a  single  spar,  considerably  longer 
than  the  mast  itself,  so  attached  that  it  can  work  up  and  down 
the  mast ;  and  so  balanced,  that  it  can  play  on  its  own  axis, 
both  vertically  and  horizontally.  These  spars  support,  each  a 
single  sail,  long,  narrow, sharp, and  triangular:  and  they  usually 
lay  across  the  masts,  at  a  pretty  sharp  angle :  either  both  on  the 
the  same  side  of  the  vessel,  or  with  their  upper  points  turned  out 
on  opposite  sides,  like  the  tail  of  a  swallow.  They  are  graceful 
and  beautiful,  and  as  far  as  my  knowledge  extends  are  confined 


200  MEMORANDA    OF 

to  Lac  Leman  and  the  Mediterranean  sea  :  at  least  I  have  seen 
such  no  where  else.  And  I  recall  with  a  pleasant  association 
the  ancient  village  of  Nyon  on  the  shores  of  the  former,  where 
I  saw  thenn  first,  and  the  romantic  city  of  Nice  on  the  banks  of 
the  latter,  from  the  terrace  of  whose  sea  wall,  I  saw  her  little 
harbour  hid  behind  marble  bulwarks,  crowded  with  them.  It  is 
sweet  to  chain  the  memory  to  what  we  shall  see  no  more,  by 
bands  ever  so  capricious ;  so  that  they  bring  back  to  us  scenes 
which  we  looked  upon  when  our  hearts  were  at  ease,  and  our 
spirits  full  of  peace. 

At  a  short  distance  from  Geneva  you  pass  through  the  village 
of  Coppet,  where  Madame  de  Stael  long  resided.  Here  she 
produced  some  of  her  most  extraordinary  works,  which  are 
certainly  amongst  the  most  profound  that  any  female  has  ever 
written  ;  and  which  are  neglected  to  a  degree  unaccountable,  as 
they  were  perhaps  once  overrated.  Here  she  gathered  around 
her  in  an  honourable  and  elegant  retirement,  many  of  the  first 
spirits  of  the  age  ;  who  from  time  to  time,  resorted  to  her  abode 
and  refreshed  themselves  with  her  converse.  A  very  curious 
anecdote  is  told  of  one  of  these  assemblages.  Benjamin  Con- 
stant, Schlegel,  and  other  equally  distinguished  persons,  were 
staying  at  Coppet,  along  with  Pestalozzi ;  whom  they  had  in 
vain  endeavoured  to  draw  into  a  discussion  on  the  subject  of 
education,  in  order  to  obtain  an  exposition  of  his  peculiar  system. 
He  evaded  all  discussion — refused  all  debate — escaped  every 
snare  laid  by  his  hostess  and  her  guests  to  entrap  him  into  a  full 
disclosure  of  his  ideas,  before  an  audience  whom  he  perhaps 
feared,  or  perhaps  despaired  of.  They  at  length  organized  a 
plot  against  him  ;  and  by  pre-concert,  one  afternoon,  the  whole 
array  of  genius  at  Coppet,  insensibly  gathered  around  him  and 
hemmed  him  completely  in.  Then  commenced  the  attack.  One 
demanded  his  ideas  on  such  a  point ;  another  required  an  answer 
to  this  objection  ;  and  all  had  somewhat  that  required  explana- 
tion and  defence.  Pestalozzi  as  usual  attempted  a  retreat; 
but  arms  and  legs  and  chairs  surrounded  him  on  all  sides. 
The  attack  was  renewed:  and  for  a  moment  the  old  man 
seemed  in  despair.    But  finally,  summoning  all  his  resolution^ 


FOREIGN   TRAVEL.  201 

he  charged  upon  the  phalanx,  and  leaping  over  the  lap  of 
one  of  the  party,  rushed  out  of  the  circle,  leaving  it  convulsed 
with  laughter. 

Almost  opposite  to  Coppet,  on  the  other  shore  of  the  lake 
and  in  full  view,  is  the  house  of  Deodati  at  Cologny,  where 
Lord  Byron  resided  ;  and  in  which  he  wrote  the  third  Canto  of 
Child  Harold,  Manfred,  and  the  Prisoner  of  Chillon.  The  scene 
of  the  last  nanied  poem  is  laid  at  the  chatteau  of  that  name,  on 
the  shore  of  this  lake,  near  its  upper  end  ;  and  the  principal 
incidents  are  true.  They  belong  to  the  life,  sufferings,  and  heroic 
efforts  of  Francis  Bonnivard,  the  defender  of  the  liberty  of  Gen- 
eva— who  languished  six  years  chained  to  a  rock  in  the  dun- 
geons of  Chillon.  Byron  was  attended  during  his  residence 
here,  by  the  poet  Shelley,  and  the  novelist  JMonk  Lewis.  I 
think  none  of  the  party,  produced  much  impression  on  the  Gen- 
evese.  The  house  he  occupied,  is  a  plain  stone  edifice  on  the 
lake  shore  just  above  Cologny— and  was  vacant  when  I  saw  it. 
I  had  gone  into  the  country  for  another  purpose  ;  and  finding 
myself  at  the  gate,  walked  in  for  a  moment,  upon  the  gloomy 
stone  terrace.  I  take  Byron  to  have  been  one  of  the  most  extra- 
ordinary combinations,  that  has  had  the  human  shape.  His 
poetic  genius  was  in  modern  times,  altogether  unparalleled. 
And  yet  his  heart  was  cold,  stern,  and  bitter ;  and  his  spirit 
caustic  and  capricious  to  a  degree  that  would  seem  incompatible 
with  a  strong  perception  of  what  is  beautiful  and  lovely,  and 
wdiolly  inconsistent  with  the  fervid  control  of  the  imagination. 
It  proves,  that  intense  passion  and  profound  thought  have  no 
necessary  connexion  with  those  qualities  to  which  men  have 
delighted  to  unite  them  ;  nay  more,  that  naked  and  alone  they 
may  triumph  in  regions,  usually  appropriated  to  them  only  when 
guided  and  sustained,  by  more  refined  and  tender  impulses. 

On  the  same  side  of  the  lake  as  Coppet,  but  nearer  to  Geneva, 
is  the  village  of  Ferney,  the  residence  and  I  believe  the  domain 
of  Voltaire;  who  made  the  acquisition  of  it  in  1759,  and  lived 
in  the  chateau,  if  it  deserve  the  name,  till  his  death  in  1775. 
The  village  is  in  the  French  territory ;  but  being  only  five  or  six 
miles  from  Geneva,  and  the  road  from  thence  delightful,  it  may 


202  MEMORANDA    OF 

be  regarded,  so  far  as  travellers  are  interested  in  it,  as  an  appur- 
tenance of  that  city.  Voltaire  once  said  in  derision  of  the  Gen- 
evese,  that  if  he  shook  his  wig  he  could  powder  the  whole  re- 
public. At  present,  I  believe  few  persons  find  their  way  to  his 
mansion,  except  those  attracted  to  Geneva  by  its  own  objects  of 
interest  so  derided  by  the  literary  leviathan,  in  ihe  height  of 
his  glory.  M.  Bude,  of  a  Genevese  family  and  a  protestant,  is 
the  owner  of  Ferney ;  and  anoiher  house  still  nearer  Geneva 
once  occupied  by  Voltaire,  is  at  present  not  only  owned  and 
occupied  by  a  Momier,  but  I  was  told  that  a  part  of  it  was 
appropriated  to  the  purposes  of  a  magazine  for  Bibles  and 
religious  tracts.  The  succession  to  Voltaire  seems  even  more 
extraordinary  than  that  to  Gibbon. 

I  visited  Ferney,  and  found  the  whole  matter  a  very  paltry 
affair.  The  house  is  a  comfortable  and  rather  large  country 
house ;  the  grounds  pretty,  not  more,  hardly  so  much.  The 
boasted  church  which  Voltaire  built,  and  inscribed  on  the  front, 
Deo  erixit  Voltaire,  I  found  full  of  wood  and  going  to  decay. 
It  was  a  very  small  and  mean  structure  in  its  best  estate.  The 
great  objects  of  interest  are  his  private  apartments,  which  are 
said  to  be  preserved  in  the  same  state  in  which  he  left  them. 
These  are  particularly  mean.  They  consist  of  an  outer  hall — 
an  interior  saloon  of  a  circular  shape  behind  it — and  a  small 
bed  room  on  the  left  of  it.  Every  thing  here  fills  one  with 
surprise,  when  it  is  remembered  that  this  is  the  most  secret 
place  of  a  man  of  wealth  and  inconceivable  vanity  and  preten- 
sion ;  at  the  very  period  when  he  was  the  intimate  correspondent 
ol"  sovereigns,  and  the  most  distinguished  philosopher  of  the 
world.  It  is  a  little  miserable  hole,  adorned  with  some  bad 
pictures,  and  a  number  of  small  and  wretched  engravings. 
Amongst  these  were  heads  of  distinguished  persons  of  all 
countries ;  about  half  of  the  whole  being  Americans  and  Eng- 
lish. I  observed  those  of  Washington — Franklin — Newton — 
Milton  ; — those  also  of  Leibnitz — D'Alambert — Diderot — Hel- 
vetius— Racine — Cornelle  ; — a  portrait  of  the  Emperess  Cathe- 
rine, and  one  of  Frederick  the  Great;  and  to  my  utter  amaze- 
ment, a  print  of  Clement  XIV.    Voltaire  did  indeed  affect  uni- 


FOREIGN    TRAVEL.  203 

versally  on  all  subjects;  to  know  and  to  be  every  thing,  was  the 
ruhng  conceit  of  a  soul,  consumed  with  low  and  evil  passions. 
But  that  he  whose  strongest  wish  was  expressed  in  the  anxious 
desire  "  to  see  the  last  Jesuit  strangled  in  the  bowels  of  the  last 
MoJinist,"  and  who  continually  sought  to  have  it  believed  that 
it  was  not  religion  but  superstition  which  he  warred  against, 
and  the  Papal  system,  as  the  concentration  of  folly  and  impos- 
ture ;  that  this  same  man,  should  hang  up  amongst  his  special 
favourites  the  head  of  the  reigning  pontiffj  who  was  in  his 
opinion  the  common  father  of  all  abominations,  and  the  very- 
centre  of  all  that  is  ridiculous  and  unprincipled  ;  was  an  exhibi- 
tion for  which  I  was  not  prepared. 

No  man  who  ever  exerted  so  great  influence  as  Voltaire,  fell 
so  speedily  into  so  great  contempt.  With  great  activity  of 
spirit,  unbounded  vivacity  and  wit,  and  much  that  cannot  be 
denied  was  real  genius;  he  possessed  also  an  exceedingly  wide 
range  of  superficial  knowledge.  With  a  laboriousness  and  flex- 
ibility never  surpassed,  he  wrote  through  nearly  a  century,  with 
his  eyes  fixed  on  two  grand  objects  ;  the  greatness  of  Voltaire, 
and  the  httleness  of  all  things  else !  See  the  issue.  No  one 
believes  he  was  learned — few  give  him  credit  for  poetic  powers 
even  of  the  second  order — most  suspect  that  his  historical  state- 
ments are  unworthy  of  the  least  credit — no  one  claims  for  liim 
any  respect  as  a  great  thinker — and  even  his  works,  rich  in  the 
happiness  of  expression,  are  rejected  by  reason  of  their  irrever- 
ence and  obscenity !  A  century  of  great  and  successful  effort 
terminates,  in  half  a  century,  in  an  issue  like  this  I  As  I  looked 
upon  the  fragments  which  excited  these  thoughts,  how  strongly 
did  the  divine  assurance  come  to  me, — »,Yo  weapon  formed  against 
Zion  shall  prosper.     Behold  the  proof! 


204  MEMORANDA   OF 


CHAPTER  XXII. 


Canton  and  City  of  Geneva,  and  Region  round  about— Its  Past  History— Present 
Condition— Calvin— His  Services  to  Geneva— General  Estimate  of  him ;  particu- 
larly as  a  Reformer ;  as  a  Statesman— His  Cotemporaries  and  Successors- 
Former  Estimation  of  Geneva— General  Religious  Declension  of  tlie  Last 
Century — Tliat  Declension  at  Geneva. 


Geneva  is  the  smallest  of  all  the  little  republics  which  com- 
pose the  Swiss  confederation  ;  and  was  the  last  of  the  twenty-two 
which  united  itself  with  the  others.  This  statement  is  made  with- 
out reference  to  the  rural  part  of  the  Canton  of  Basle,  which  has 
been  separated  from  the  City  of  Basle  of  late  years ;  so  that 
strictly  speaking,  there  should  be  considered  twenty-three  Cantons 
— of  which  the  Country  Canton  of  Basle  was  the  last  admitted. 
Geneva  contains  only  four  geographical  square  miles  of  terri- 
tory ;  and  is  smaller  than  Zug  the  next  least,  by  three  quarters 
of  such  a  mile.  The  population  of  the  Canton  Geneva  is  rated 
at  52,000 ;  of  whom  34,000  reside  in  the  City  of  Geneva,  which 
is  the  most  populous  town  in  the  confederation,  and  would  long 
ago  have  reached  a  high,  perhaps  the  first  rank  of  European 
cities,  if  its  people  would  have  levelled  its  ramparts  so  as  to 
make  room  for  improvements,  and  given  facilities  for  the  aug- 
mentation of  their  Capital.  As  it  is,  the  space  within  the  walls 
is  completely  built  over  with  houses  which  are  generally  five  or 
six  stories  high ;  the  streets  are  narrow ;  the  shores  of  the 
Rhone  which  passes  through  the  town  and  those  of  the  lake 
which  washes  its  walls,  are  encroached  upon  continually :  and 


FOREIGN    TRAVEL.  205 

after  all,  considerable  villages  are  growing  up  without  each  of 
the  gates. 

The  situation  of  the  town,  upon  an  island  and  both  shores  of 
the  Rhone  where  it  issues  from  the  western  end  of  Lac  Lemian, 
is  extremely  beautiful.  The  larger  part  of  it  is  on  the  south 
side  of  the  river ;  and  as  the  shore  is  narrow  on  thai  side,  and 
skirted  by  an  abrupt  and  high  hill,  upon  the  top  and  sides  of 
which  the  white  stone  houses  line  the  steep  and  crooked  streets ; 
the  whole  has  an  aspect  peculiar — unique.  It  presents  from  all 
quarters  a  striking  object,  as  the  traveller  approaches,  whether 
by  land  or  water.  And  the  whole  surrounding  region  as  seen 
from  it,  exhibits  a  series  of  landscapes  var3''ing  continually  from 
the  beautiful  to  the  sublime  as  you  change  the  point  of  view, 
and  presenting  a  panorama  hardly  surpassed  in  the  world.  To- 
wards the  east  is  the  beauiiful  lake,  lined  on  both  sides  with  a 
girdle  of  life,  to  which  the  desolate  mountains  that  rear  their 
naked  sides  above  it,  give  new  loveliness.  Behind  the  town, 
towards  the  west  and  south,  the  ranges  of  mountains  present 
the  most  superb  aspects.  Looking  towards  the  south,  on  the 
left  is  the  range  of  Bonneville  in  the  distance,  and  next  the  con- 
ical mountain  of  Mole ;  between  which  and  the  Bonneville  on 
one  side,  and  the  grand  and  petit  Salave  on  the  other — are  wide 
openings  on  either  hand,  through  which  the  great  Alps,  with 
their  glaciers  and  citadels  of  rock  and  snow,  stretch  away  before 
you,  as  if  to  the  world's  limits.  On  the  right,  the  two  chains  of 
the  Salave  rise  up  with  a  distinct  and  bold  outline  of  that  regular 
and  rounded  look,  peculiar  to  mountains  of  the  second  and  third 
class  ; — and  far  above  them  both,  the  mighty  figure  of  the  glo- 
rious king  of  Alps — the  triple  Mont  Blanc — heaves  itself  into 
the  clouds.  Turning  further  towards  the  west,  the  plain  in 
which  the  Rhone  and  the  Arne  unite  their  waters,  and  the  villa- 
ges which  fill  the  narrow  landscape,  and  the  diminished  and 
barren  Jura  pushing  his  rocky  course  far  towards  the  north, 
complete  the  ample  and  various  panorama.  Every  where  in 
and  around  Geneva,  the  whole  or  some  striking  part  of  these 
scenes  court  the  deUghted  gaze.  If  I  should  designate  one  spot 
as  peculiarly  favoured  with  the  most  rich  presentation  of  the 
Vol.  H.--19 


206  MEMORANDA   OF 

more  striking  of  these  objects  ;  it  would  be  the  httle  mound,  on 
the  Geneva  side  of  the  village  of  Grand  Saconnex,  on  the  great 
road  as  you  go  to  Ferney.  From  this  spot,  in  the  afternoon, 
(when  the  atmosphere  is  always  most  clear)  the  view  of  Mont 
Blanc  is  inexpressibly  magnificent — and  will  fully  compensate 
for  the  time  spent  in  visiting  the  miserable  relics  at  Feriiey. 

The  city  of  Geneva  is  strongly  fortified  after  the  modern  fash- 
ion ;  and  it  is  the  only  city  in  Switzerland  which  I  saw  thus 
defended.  Many  are  encompassed  in  the  ancient  way,  with  a 
high  and  thick  wall  of  large  stones,  overlooked  by  still  higher 
towers  at  short  intervals,  and  provided  with  covered  ways  at 
the  most  important  points  ;  a  mode  of  defence  perfectly  useless 
in  the  present  state  of  the  art  of  war.  At  Geneva  you  meet 
with  the  deep  ditches  and  thick  angular  stone-faced  embank- 
ments of  modern  defence  ;  with  all  the  mazes  of  outworks  and 
inworks,  which  the  mortar  and  bomb  seem  likely  to  render  as 
insignificant,  as  cannon  have  the  plain  wall  of  the  middle  ages. 
It  is  not  surprising  that  the  Genevese  should  be  suspicious  of 
their  neighbors,  and  profit  by  an  experience  derived  from  an  an- 
tiquity as  great  as  that  of  their  city  ;  the  whole  of  which  teaches 
them  that  "  they  will  take  who  have  the  power" — as  well  as  the 
other  part  of  the  couplet,  that  "they  may  keep  who  can.''  in 
truth  Geneva  is  one  of  the  most  ancient  cities  of  Europe  north 
of  the  Alps  ;  and  has  had,  perhaps,  more  than  its  share  of  the 
troubles  common  to  them  all.  It  was  a  place  of  considerable 
importance  when  the  Romans  first  penetrated  Gaul ;  and  being 
conquered  by  them,  wore  their  yoke  five  hundred  years.  Early 
in  the  fifth  century,  the  Burgundians  added  the  city  to  their 
kingdom,  and  made  it  one  of  their  capitals.  Then  came  the 
Ostrogoths  in  the  following  century,  who  ruled  it  lor  a  short 
period,  and  ceded  it  about  the  middle  of  the  sixth  century  to  the 
Francs  ;  who  held  sway  over  it  for  three  hundred  and  fifty 
years.  Afierwards  came  the  domination  of  the  kingdom  of 
Aries  ;  and  then  that  of  the  second  kingdom  of  the  Burgundians. 
Then  followed  the  long  and  bloody  feuds,  between  her  own  Ba- 
rons and  Bishops;  in  which  the  streets  ran  with  native  blood, 
in  furious  contests  for  the  mastery,  by  so  called  Christian  pastors 


FOREIGN    TRAVEL.  207 

— pastors  whose  pious  successors  and  brethren  shudder  with  hor- 
ror, at  the  bare  mention  of  the  name  of  Servetus.  In  the  thir- 
teenth century  the  Counts  of  Savoy  became  powerful  in  the 
neighborhood  of  the  city,  and  often  cruelly  oppressed  it.  Then 
came  the  Reformation  ;  and  in  1535,  the  Republic  was  proclaim- 
ed in  Geneva,  and  for  eighty  years  she  had  to  sustain  new  and 
terrible  contests  for  her  liberty  and  religion.  In  1798  she  fell 
under  the  power  of  the  French  Republic  ;  but  in  1813  recovered 
her  independence  ;  and  in  1815  joined  the  Swiss  Confederation, 
as  the  22nd  Canton.  The  Congress  of  Vienna,  and  the  treaties 
of  Paris  and  Turin,  recognized  this  union,  augmented  her  little 
territory,  and  guaranteed  free  access  to  the  remaining  Cantons ; 
from  which  it  is  almost  entirely  cut  off  by  the  territories  of 
France  and  of  Sardinia.  . 

Such  is  Geneva  to  the  eye  ;  such  have  been  her  sufferings  and  \1 
efforts  in  past  generations,  [f  for  these  she  deserves  our  regard,  \ 
what  does  she  not  demand  at  our  hands,  for  the  unspeakable 
benefits  she  has  conferred  on  mankind !  How  long  and  how 
multiplied  has  been  her  descent  of  illustrious  men  !  How  striking 
and  how  beautiful  the  lesson  she  has  given  the  world  of  a  social 
system,  perfect  in  its  conception,  and  perfect  almost  in  its  civil 
results !  Here  is  a  little  community  in  which  every  man  is  free, 
and  every  child  educated ;  in  which  the  sovereign  power  resides 
in  those  hands  that  defend  the  State  in  danger,  and  adorn  it  in 
peace;  where  a  common  and  diffused  public  spirit  pervades  the 
entire  population;  and  the  gOod  of  each  is  so  clearly  identified 
with  the  good  of  all,  that  in  the  great  policy  of  the  state,  one 
finds  the  economy,  the  wisdom,  the  consistency  and  settled  pro- 
cedure of  a  well  regulated  family. 

Whence  came  all  these  wonders  ?  Who  stamped  this  unique 
and  extraordinary  impress  on  a  community,  not  in  any  wise  spe- 
cially prepared  to  receive  it?  Its  list  of  great  names,  both  at 
home  and  throughout  the  world,  is  as  I  have  said  full  and  rich ; 
and  that  too,  in  every  department  of  human  effort.  But  it  was 
not  to  them  all  unitedly— it  was  not  to  them  all  in  succession, 
so  much  as  it  was  to  one  single  capacious,  glorious  mind,  that 
they  and  the  world  are  indebted ;  that  true  and  undefiled  reli- 


208 


MEMORANDA    OF 


gion  reigned  so  long  within^  and  spread  so  widely  from  these 
walls ;  and  that  knowledge  and  freedom  reign  so  firmly  there 
to-day.  What  name  is  known  in  Geneva  before  Calvin  ;  what 
name  known  in  it  since, — his  enemies  being  judge,  compares 
with  his?  His  enemies  !  Strange  that  such  a  man  had  enemies 
while  he  lived!  Stranger  still,  that  three  centuries  of  death,  un- 
attended but  by  blessings,  increasing  in  their  copious  stream 
upon  the  earth ;  are  unable  to  silence  ignorance  or  to  rob  male- 
volence of  its  venom.  Who  had  his  deep  and  various  learning  ; 
and  yet  who  equalled  his  meek  and  humble  spirit  ?  Where  shall 
we  seek  a  rival  to  his  capacious  genius,  his  profound  sagacity, 
his  searching  practical  wisdom ;  all  tempered  and  adorned  by  a 
modesty  almost  child-like,  and  a  gentleness  becoming  the  heart 
of  woman  !  In  an  age  too  prone  to  vulgarity  ;  his  writings  are 
unstained  by  a  blot.  Amongst  contests  and  with  enemies 
"fierce  as  ten  furies,"  his  voluminous  productions  will  be  sought 
in  vain  for  a  passage,  tinctured  with  bitterness.  Perhaps  the 
dedication  of  his  Institutes  to  Francis  I,  may  be  considered  an 
incomparable  model  of  discourse,  uttered  by  a  free  and  Christian, 
but  oppressed  man,  to  a  bigoted  and  tyrannical  prince  ;  in  which 
the  deepest  interests  of  sharp  and  existing  contests,  and  waring 
parties  are  treated  with  a  clearness,  dignity  and  pathos,  strange- 
ly in  contrast  with  cotemporary  efforts ;  with  the  addresses,  for 
example,  of  liUther  to  Henry  VIII.  As  elegant  and  as  kind  as 
Philip  Melancthon,  he  had  all  the  courage  of  Luther,  united  to 
the  learning  of  Erasmus,  the  philosophical  spirit  of  Zuinglius, 
the  self  devotion  of  Farel ;  and  a  piety  more  conspicuous  in  its 
touching,  consistent  and  enlightened  fervour,  than  almost  any 
thing  we  meet  with,  even  in  that  noble  generation.  If  any  man 
could  deserve — he  did  to  confer  his  name,  not  on  a  sect  or  party 
— but  on  a  system,  held  by  the  deepest  thinkers  in  all  succeeding 
generations,  and  rejoiced  in  by  the  most  devoted  spirits  in  all 
Christian  sects.  Paul,  "  the  first  great  corruptor  of  Christianity," 
as  Mr.  Jefferson  has  called  him  :  Athenasius,  Augustin,  Calvin, 
the  mightiest  disciples  of  Paul!  The  doctrines  of  grace,  one 
will  call  their  peculiar  system  ;  evangelical  Christianity  another  ; 
moderate  Calvinism  a  third  :  the  uames  are  identical,  in  defiance 


FOREIGN    TRAVEL.  209 

of  the  hatred  and  ignorance  of  the  world,  and  the  prejudices  of 
many  real  disciples  of  Christ.  The  fall  and  corruption  of  man  ; 
the  alone  mode  of  salvation  by  grace  through  faith,  in  a  divine 
Saviour  crucified  in  the  sinner's  room  and  stead  ;  the  indispens- 
able and  sovereign  work  of  the  Divine  Spirit,  in  the  whole  of 
salvation,  and  especially  in  the  regeneration  and  sanclification  of 
the  sinner's  heart,  by  the  use  of  the  divinely  inspired  word  of 
God ;  the  free,  unmerited  and  eternal  love  of  God  the  Father, 
for  the  people  of  his  heritage — the  sinners  for  whom  he  gave  his 
Son  to  die — and  to  whom  the  purchased  Spirit  is  sent  with 
power:  this  is  the  Christian  system. — Jind  where,  out  of  the 
Bible,  in  ail  the  lapse  of  eighteen  centuries,  will  you  find  its  illus- 
tration and  defence — its  statement,  its  demonstration  ;  as  you  find 
them  accomplished  by  the  hand,  and  illustrated  by  the  labours 
and  life  of  John  Calvin  ? 

This  wonderful  man  is  known  to  posterity  principally  in  two 
relations,  which  are  now  considered  almost  incompatible  with 
each  other;  and  which  are,  in  truth,  sufficiently  distinct.  In 
his  chief  capacity  as  one  of  the  leaders  of  the  blessed  reformation 
of  the  sixteenth  century,  there  are  few  lands  so  dark  as  j^pt  to 
have  heard  his  fame.  But  in  the  capacity  of  an  unrivalled 
statesman,  men  know  less  of  him.  Yet  he  was  far  more  decid- 
edly the  personal  founder  of  the  liberties  of  Geneva,  than  he  can 
be  considered  the  father  of  those  churches,  whose  polity  and 
doctrine  he  influenced.  Influenced,  we  mean  in  a  controlling 
manner ;  for  all  the  reformed  churches,  and  most  of  the  evangeli- 
cal denominations  which  have  arisen  since,  have  exhibited  the 
traces  of  his  great  spirit  through  the  influence  of  disciples,  who 
drank  wisdom  from  his  lips— or  imbibed  it  from  his  writings.  As 
a  statesman,  God  gave  him  especially  and  directly  to  Geneva.  As 
a  religious  reformer,  to  the  whole  world.  In  the  former  capacity, 
and  the  field  appropriated  to  its  exercise,  his  success  was  perfect, 
absolute ;  and  for  a  period  of  nearly  three  hundred  years,  the  free 
institutions  of  that  happy  community  have  moulded  its  polity, 
and  conformed  its  whole  civil  condition,  into  a  model  for  the 
world  to  imitate.  In  the  latter  capacity,  and  the  vast  field,  no  less 
19* 


210  MEMORANDA    OF 

in  its  compass  than  the  hmits  of  the  human  race  which  apper- 
tained to  it,  I  have  already  spoken  of  the  nature  of  his  services 
to  mankind. 

It  would  however  be  as  unjust  as  it  would  be  false,  to  absorb 
all  the  claims  of  Geneva  on  the  gratitude  of  the  world,  still  more 
of  the  church,  in  those  even  of  Calvin.     We  know  less  than  we 
should  know  of  his  holy  and  honoured  coadjutors  in   the  early 
church  of  Geneva  ;  but  we  know  enough  to  bless  God  that  he 
gave  to  the  world,  Farel,  and  Viret,  and  Theodore  de  Beza. 
We  have   preserved  perhaps  a   less  vivid  sense  of  the  merits 
and  labours  of  their  pious  and  learned  successors  than  is  due  to 
them,  and  to  the  great  cause  which  they  adorned.     Still  we  ciie- 
rish  the  names  of  Chandieu,  John  Deodati,  Theodore  Tronchin, 
Benedict  and  Francis  Turreitin,  Benedict  Pictet,  Antoine  Mau- 
rice, and  how  many  others,  whom  I   hope  to  meet  in  heaven  ! 
Men  who  kept   the  odour  of  sanctity   for  generations,   in  the 
church  of  Geneva  ;  and   filled  all  the  churches  of  Europe  with 
veneration  for  her  name.     So  that  they  rejoiced  in  her  gifts  com- 
municated to  them,  and  sent  back  as  they  had  opportunity,  gifts 
in  return ;   receiving  their  pastors    and  disciples  as  precious 
guides ;  and  fleeing  to  her  beloved  walls,  when  overtaken  them- 
selves by  the  calamities  inflicted  on  them  by  the  enemies  of  God. 
At  the  Synod  of  Dort,  Deodati  and  Tronchin   exercised   per- 
haps, not  less  influence  than  any  two  members  of  that  venerable 
body.    At  one  period  the  Christian  refugees  from  France,  Ger- 
many, Holland,  Piedmont,  Great  Britain,  Lombardy,   and  the 
cities  of  Lucca  and  Cremona  in  Italy,  fled  in  such  numbers  to 
Geneva;  that  in  a  single  day  (15ih  October,  1557)  the  govern- 
ment received  three  hundred  persons  into  its  protection.     Who 
can  ever  forget  that  it  was  this  city,  which  opened  its  gates  to 
the  unhappy  Protestant  exiles  who  escaped  the  massacres  of  Me- 
rmdole  and  Cabrieres?    Or   who  is  not  affected  at  the  recital  of 
the  tender  interest  which  all  the  churches  manifested,  when  in 
her  turn  this  beloved  city  was  environed  by  dangers?    Inso- 
much that  collections  to  the  amount  of  a  hundred  thousand  livres 
iournois  were  sent  to  Geneva,  as  the  result  of  an  appeal  made 
at  the  suggestion  of  Francis  Turrettin ;  and  employed  to  fortify 


FOREIGN    TRAVEL.  211 

the  city.  "  We  should  aid  them"  said  the  government  of  Hol- 
land to  the  Estates  of  the  Provinces,  at  this  memorable  period 
(1661)  "  because  that  city  has  been  chosen  of  God  as  the  princi- 
pal abode  of  his  church^ — to  make  true  relief  ion  abide  there  :  be- 
cause this  church  is  the  mother  of  so  many  others ;  because  the 
world  now  hates  and  persecutes  her,  for  the  rehgion  she  profess- 
es, and  the  gospel  of  Christ  which  she  teaches  !"  And  while  the  ' 
churches  of  Poland,  Germany,  Hungary,  Transylvania,  Holland, 
Scotland,  and  England,  sent  succours  to  the  city  from  which 
they  had  received  blessings  above  all  price  ;  the  elite  of  the 
reformed  youth  of  France,  flew  to  partake  her  dangers,  led  by 
Henry  of  Navarre,  Sully,  Du  Plessis-Mornay,  and  their  heroic 
compatriots  !  Glorious  city,  that  deserved  such  regards  !  Alas  ! 
that  she  has  fallen  from  her  high  estate  !  Blessed  churches,  that 
responded  to  such  calls  !  Quenched  alas  !  in  their  own  blood  ; 
some  are  now  without  a  name  ;  others  with  little  more  than  a 
name  to  live  ! 

It  is  difficult  to  fix  a  precise  date  to  the  commencement  of 
that  period  of  declension  in  pure  religion,  which  during  the  last 
century  was  observable  over  all  the  earth  ;  and  which  especially 
towards  its  close,  sunk  into  almost  universal  infidelity  or  heresy. 
It  is  probable  that  we  should  rather  regard  these  sad  catastro- 
phies,  as  being  so  far  isolated  in  each  country,  as  to  have  pecu- 
liar causes  and  separate  dates,  as  well  as  divers  manifestations  in 
each  ;  agreeing  only  in  the  general  fact  of  forsaking  God — and 
in  the  special  one,  of  wandering  far  from  him,  in  proportion  as 
they  knew  little  of  his  truth  before.  The  Catholics  of  Italy  are 
exhibited,  by  all  witnesses,  and  especially  in  the  personal  me- 
moirs of  the  Bishop  of  Pistoia,  as  sunk  into  the  lowest  condition 
of  pollution  and  superstition.  Those  of  France  became  a  horrid 
model  of  ferocious  atheism.  The  episcopal  church  of  England 
became  essentially  heretical,  taking  its  own  articles  as  the  rule  of 
judgment ;  and  while  its  clergy  openly  exceeded  the  men  of  the 
world  in  "sumpluous  living,"  they  preached,  when  they  preach- 
ed at  all,  Arminian,  Pelagian,  and  Arian,  errors.  The  establish- 
ed church  of  Scotland  died ;  and  piety  went  out  from  her  midst, 
leaving  only  a  barren  orthodoxy,  and  a  cold  external  decency  of 


212  MEMORANDA   OF 

life.  In  the  United  States  we  felt  the  same  withering  influences, 
and  exhibited  the  like  varied  results.  To  the  north,  Unitarian- 
ism  grew  up ;  while  in  the  middle  and  southern  states,  deism  be- 
came the  common  sentiment.  The  previous  condition  of  Mas- 
sachusetts made  it  certain,  that  after  taking  a  certain  march 
away  from  God,  she  would  be  Socinian  ;  while  that  of  Virginia, 
after  an  equal  march,  forced  her  into  a  condition  of  more  rea- 
sonable, but  less  religious  skepticism.  Even  the  mercies  of  God 
lavished  on  societies  in  such  conditions,  were  liable  to  unusual  per- 
versions, differing  according  to  their  existing  conditions.  Thus 
a  wide  and  true  revival  of  religion  in  New  England,  ended  to  a 
lamentable  degree,  in  all  sorts  of  metaphysical  heresies,  which 
still  disturb  the  minds  of  men ;  while  in  the  west,  the  same  gifts 
were  perverted  into  extravagant  and  unnatural  systems  regard- 
ing social  life,  which  are  still  exhibited  amongst  those  called 
''  Shaking  Quakers." 

There  is  a  great  principle  at  the  base  of  all  these  varying  re- 
sults ;  a  principal  universal  in  the  providence  of  God,  as  influen- 
ced by,  or  influencing  in  turn,  liis  spiritual  dealings  with  man- 
kind. The  condition  in  which  we  are,  is  the  unilbrm  basis  of 
that  which  is  to  follow.  The  influences  applied,  of  necessity 
produce  some  result ;  and  whether  good  or  bad,  it  is  akin  to  the 
state  on  which  they  acted.  The  gospel  itself  either  melts  or 
hardens ;  and  the  eternity  before  us,  will  assume  in  its  most  glo- 
rious or  most  aggravated  aspect,  no  other  character,  to  each  se- 
parate spirit,  than  the  eternal  developement,  perhaps,  of  that 
with  which  it  emerged  from  its  stat§  of  trial,  into  eternity. 

As  with  each  separate  individual,  so  also  with  communities,  the 
beginnings  are  more  distant  from  the  final  result,  than  we  com- 
monly imagine.  I  suppose  that  the  final  cause,  humanly  speak- 
ing, of  that  awful  state  of  society  in  France,  which  obscured 
with  horror  the  real  benefits  of  the  first  revolution ;  is  to  be 
sought  at  least  as  far  back  as  the  revocation  of  the  edict  of  Nantz, 
more  than  a  century  before  its  eruption  :  and  that  the  brutal  li- 
centiousness of  the  nobles  and  clergy,  under  the  regency  of  the 
Duke  of  Orleans,  added  the  finishing  touch  ;  and  so  prepared 
the  people,  that  the  actual  results  were  inevitable,  under  the  giv- 


FOREIGN    TRAVEL.  2l3 

en  state  of  the  case.  So  too  in  Great  Britain ;  the  state  of  the 
churches  and  people  at  the  darkest  period  of  the  latter  part  of 
the  last  century,  had  undoubtedly  a  direct  relation  to  the  licen- 
tiousness of  religious  opinion  fostered  in  the  last  years  of  the 
commonwealth  ;  and  to  the  attrocious  and  perfidious  conduct  of 
the  parliaments  and  prelates  of  Charles  II.  by  whom  religion 
was  hunted  down,  as  the  only  crime  which  could  not  be  tolerated 
within  the  realm.  The  difference  of  the  final  results  in  the  two 
kingdoms  is  fully  accounted  for,  by  the  different  degrees  in  which 
they  prepared  for  themselves  wrath ;  and  the  consequently  dif- 
ferent conditions  in  which  they  stood,  when  the  day  of  wrath 
came  to  them  as  nations.  We  trust  it  is  not  too  much  to  say, 
we  have  faith  to  believe,  that  such  days  will  return  to  them  no 
more.  O  !  that  the  world  knew  its  day  of  merciful  visitation  ; 
and  would  appropriate  its  blessings  before  they  be  hid  again 
iVom  its  eyes. 

No  spot  of  earth  has  exhibited  more  thoroughly  this  mournful 
declension  of  religion  than  the  republic  of  Geneva  ;  nor  has  any 
illustrated  more  forcibly  at  the  same  time,  the  truth  of  the  prin- 
ciples already  stated.  For  although  Geneva  has  thoroughly 
shaken  off"  the  peculiar  doctrines  which  were  so  long  Jier  glory ; 
the  long  and  blessed  influence  which  her  civil  and  religious  insti- 
tutions had  exerted,  put  her  in  a  condition  to  make  her  fall  with- 
out commotion,  without  bloodshed,  without  the  destruction  of  pub- 
lic morals ;  and  to  preserve  after  it,  many  of  those  habitudes,  of 
which  the  spirit  and  life  were  gone.  And  what  was  not  less 
important,  retained  her  in  a  state  easily  accessible  to  those  pre- 
cious influences,  which  in  Geneva  as  throughout  all  Protestant 
Christendom,  are  repairing  the  breaches  of  Zion  and  restoring 
her  lost  beauty.    I  will  speak  briefly,  of  both  these  events. 


214  MEMORANDA    OF 


CHAPTER   XXIII 


Sketch  of  tlie  Reformed  Church  of  Geneva  to  its  Apostacy— Arjan  Version  of  the 
Scriptures— Succession  of  Truth  in  the  Church  of  Geneva— The  Universal  Ee- 
ligious  Impulse  of  Uie  Present  Centurj- — Its  Origin  and  Progress  at  Geneva — 
Robert  Haldaue— Its  Present  State— Dr.  Malan— The  Church  of  the  Bourg  du 
Four- Evangehcal  Society— Colportage— Efforts  to  Preach  tlie  Gospel  at  Home 
and  Abroad— School  of  Theology— The  Importance  of  its  Position  and  Efforts 
— National  Clergy— Popular  Condition— Extraordinary  Session  of  the  Grand 
Council  of  tlie  Republic— Cimite ere  de  I'Egalite. 


The  church  of  Geneva  is  at  once  Presbyterian  and  national : 
in  the  latter  respect  it  resembles  all  the  churches  of  the  reforma- 
tion ;  in  the  former,  an  immense  majority  of  them.  Its  Confes- 
sion of  Faith  once  established,  was  made  unalterable,  except  by 
the  consent  of  the  civil  as  well  as  the  ecclesiastical  authorities  of 
the  Republic :  in  short  by  the  will  of  the  whole  people.  At  the 
same  time,  perfect  freedom  of  religion  reigned  in  Geneva,  almost 
from  the  earliest  period  at  which  any  portion  of  mankind  had 
emancipated  themselves  from  the  dreadful  idea  that  the  con- 
science can  or  should  be  coerced  ;  a  dogma  ground  into  the  very 
soul  of  society,  by  the  church  of  Rome,  from  the  first  day  of  its 
apostacy  ;  and  which,  by  itself,  proves  that  deluded  hierarchy  lo 
be  the  enemy  of  freedom,  of  knowledge,  and  of  thought.  All 
the  successive  changes  in  the  institutions  of  Geneva,  recognise 
these  two  great  principles,  viz :  the  inviolable  sanctity  of  the 
faith  of  the  national  church ;  and  the  unlimited  freedom  of  all, 
to  believe  and  teach  as  they  pleased,  on  their  own  responsibility, 
as  free  citizens.    In  effect,  the  latter  principle  has  saved  the 


1 


I 


FOREIGN    TRAVEL.  215 

church  of  Geneva,  when  the  former  proved  entirely  abortive. 
The  principle  of  religious  liberty,  which  tolerated  all,  was  forced 
to  tolerate  evangelical  piety,  in  the  established  church ;  at  a 
period  when  all  the  tribunals  of  it  persecuted  and  would  have 
cast  out  all  who  were  known  to  practice  its  precepts,  or  rejoice 
in  its  doctrines.  Another  lesson,  to  teach  those  still  blinded  to 
the  evils  of  establishments,  that  the  kingdom  of  Christ  is  in  no 
sense  a  kingdom  of  this  world. 

For  a  period  of  two  centuries  and  a  half,  the  ministers  ordained 
in  Geneva  were  required  to  protest,  and  did  protest,  ^Hhat  they 
held  the  doctrine  of  the  holy  prophets  and  apostles,  as  they  are 
comprised  in  the  hooks  of  the  Old  and  JVew  Testaments;  of  which 
doctrine  (it  was  added)  we  have  a  summary  in  our  Catechism.'^ 
What  the  character  of  that  summary  was,  admits  of  no  doubt, 
when  we  say  the  Catechism  spoken  of  is  that  of  Calvin.  After 
the  church  of  Holland  had  adopted  its  famous  articles  in  the 
Synod  of  Dort,  a  century  after  the  church  of  Geneva  had  estab- 
lished its  fame  over  Europe ;  the  latter  required  from  its  candi- 
dates for  ordination,  assent  to  ihese  articles  also;  articles  which 
two  of  its  own  pastors  (Tronchin  and  Deodati)  had  exercised  so 
large  an  influence  in  framing.  Still  later,  (in  1678,)  the  churches 
of  Zurich  and  Bern,  composed  a  concensus,  on  the  doctrines  of 
grace,  against  the  dogmas  of  certain  theologians  of  Saumur ;  and 
this  formulary  was  added  to  the  two  already  existing  in  the 
church  of  Geneva.  But  in  the  very  beginning  of  the  next  cen- 
tury, the  concensus  first, and  afterwards  the  articles  of  the  Synod 
of  Dort,  were  suppressed  at  Geneva ;  leaving  the  simple  formular 
they  had  used  for  a  century  before  either  of  the  others  existed 
— not  only  unaltered,  but  as  I  have  said  already,  to  this  day  un- 
alterable, except  by  the  authority  of  the  people  and  government 
as  well  as  that  of  the  church  of  Geneva.  In  short,  the  doctrines 
of  grace,  are  to  this  hour  the  only  lawful  creed  of  the  established 
Unitarian  church  of  Geneva  ! 

How  long  the  church  retained  the  use  of  this  form,  after  its 
ministers  no  longer  honestly  intended  what  they  uttered  at  its 
adoption ;  or  how  long  the  catechism  of  Calvin  was  actually 
used,  after  its  statements  had  ceased  to  be  assented   to ;  is 


216  MEMORANDA    OF 

extremely  diflScult  to  be  justly  decided  ;  and  is  a  subject  of  con- 
test amongst  those  most  deeply  interested.  In  this  church, 
besides  the  consistory  composed  of  pastors  and  ruling  elders, 
and  answering  virtually  to  a  Presbytery;  there  exists  an  associ- 
ation called  "  The  Venerable  Company  of  Pastors,"  which  is,  I 
believe,  peculiar  to  it.  It  is  a  weekly  meeting  of  all  the  pastors 
in  private  conference,  for  the  single  purpose  of  mutual  counsel, 
examination,  encouragement,  and  rebuke ;  resembling  in  some 
degree,  the  class  meeting  for  private  members,  and  the  process 
for  examining  character  in  conference  for  the  preachers,  which 
Mr.  Wesley  established  amongst  his  followers ;  and  for  which, 
as  for  some  other  important  points  of  his  system,  many  would 
be  surprised  to  find,  how  deeply  he  was  indebted  to  the  Gene- 
vese  reformer.  This  venerable  company  inscribed  on  its  regis- 
ter, in  1725, these  portentous  words:  ^*the  protestation  imposed 
by  our  laws,  on  ministers,  with  reference  to  the  Catechism  of 
Calvin,  does  not  require  them  to  follow  it  wholly ;  but  is  simply 
to  testify,  that  the  substance  and  summary  of  Christian  doctrine 
is  contained  in  it"  It  is  worthy  of  all  consideration,  especially 
on  the  part  of  the  Christians  of  the  United  States  at  the  present 
time,  that  the  church  which  introduced  this  gloss  upon  a  simple 
and  categorical  statement,  needed  no  more  and  attempted  no 
more,  beyond  this  gloss,  to  become  thoroughly  heretical ;  still 
retaining  not  only  the  same  Confession  of  Faith,  but  the  very 
form  of  adoption,  which  existed  when  the  same  church  was 
thoroughly  evangelical ! 

In  the  year  1788,  the  Catechism  of  Calvin  was  found  to  have 
been  totally  abandoned  in  the  religious  instruction  of  the  schools, 
under  the  care  of  the  established  church.  But  for  above  fifty 
years  before,  other  catechisms  had  been  gradually  supplanting 
it.  In  1818  the  Venerable  Company  of  Pastors  forbade  one  of 
the  regents  of  the  college  of  Geneva,  "  in  the  most  express 
terms,  to  teach  either  of  the  following  doctrines  ;  namely,  that 
there  is  but  one  God,  the  Father,  the  Son,  and  the  Holy  Ghost ; 
that  man  is  born  in  a  state  of  sin ;  that  he  could  not  escape 
from  that  state,  except  through  the  new  birth,  effected  by  the 
Holy  Spirit ;  thai  salvation  is  a  gift,  absolutely  free,  which  God 


FOUEIGN   TRAVEL,  2\1 

snakes  in  his  Son,  to  the  sinners  he  is  pleased  to  save  ;  and 
finally,  that  our  (rood  works  are  only  the  evidences  of  our  love 
for  our  Saviour,  and  have  no  merit  to  redeem  our  souls."  And 
in  1831,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Cheniviere,  professor  of  dogmatic  theolo- 
gy in  the  school  of  the  national  clmrch,  published  two  elaborate 
essays  against  the  doctrines  of  the  Trinity  and  of  original  sin. 
Before  this  the  privation  of  Dr.  Malaa  as  teacher  of  youth,  and 
that  of  Mr.  Gaussen  as  pastor  of  Satigny  ;  had  been  undertaken, 
prosecuted,  and  accomplished,  by  the  venerable  company,  the 
consistory,  and  the  council  of  state,  upon  pretext.';  at  once  frivol- 
ous and  false ;  but  solely  for  the  reason  that  they  were  both 
faithful  and  zealous  ministers  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

So  complete  is  this  revolution  in  the  church  of  Geneva,  that  I 
have  the  best  authority  to  say  there  are  not  above  two  or  three 
pastors  in  all  the  venerable  company,  who  can  be  considered  as 
decidedly  holding  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity ;  and  not  more 
than  one,  or  perhaps  two,  who  openly  preach  that  Jesus  Christ 
is  the  true  God  and  eternal  life.  About  the  time  I  was  at  Gen- 
eva, a  circumstance  transpired  which  presents  in  a  strong  light 
at  once  the  sad  condition  of  the  venerable  company,  and  the 
difficulties  with  which  its  few  pious  members  find  themselves 
environed.  An  Arian  version  of  the  New  Testament  had  not 
only  been  issued  by  the  Bible  Society  under  the  control  of  the 
national  church,  but  funds  put  at  their  disposal  by  the  British 
and  Foreign  Bible  Society,  to  circulate  a  different  and  true 
version,  were  appropriated  to  aid  the  printing  of  the  Arian 
version.  The  result  was  understood  to  be,  that  the  British  and 
Foreign  Bible  Society  had  broken  off  all  connexion  with  the 
society  at  Geneva.  And  I  was  repeatedly  assured  from  unques- 
tionable sources,  that  the  few  pastors  inclined  to  orthodox  senti- 
ments, were  involved  in  this  proceeding  to  the  extent  of  conni- 
vance if  not  consent,  to  the  false  publication,  and  the  faithless 
misapplication  of  funds  contributed  with  a  very  different  view. 

All  this  subject,  from  beginning  to  end,  is  so  full  of  instruction 

to  all  who  will  regard  the  lesson ;  and  the    whole  case  is  so 

exactly  pertinent  to  a  great  deal  that  has  occurred  again  and 

again,  in  the  churches  of  the  United  States,  and  amongst  the 

Vol.  II.— 20 


2l8  MEMORANDA  OF 

rest  in  the  beloved  church  in  which  God  has  cast  my  own  lot ; 
that  I  have  been  the  more  desirous  to  make  it  plain.  There  is, 
however,  another  and  more  comforting  part  of  the  story  to  be 
toid ;  and  I  proceed  to  it,  as  to  a  pleasant  task. 

Neither  the  entire  church  nor  people  of  Geneva,  have  proba- 
bly at  any  time  forsaken  the  true  faith.  I  have  already  spoken 
of  Dr.  Malan  and  Mr.  Gaussen,as  having  been  persecuted  by 
their  brethren  for  confessing  Jesus  Christ.  The  last  named  gen- 
tleman had  been  for  fourteen  years  before  the  attack  made  on 
him — that  is  since  1816,  preaching  the  gospel  at  Satigny.  We 
have  the  authority  of  Mr.  Gaussen,  in  a  letter  addressed  to  his 
flock  in  1830,  for  saying  that  his  immediate  predecessor  at 
Satigny,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Cellerier,  had  faithfully  preached  to  them 
Christ  crucified  for  thirty  years.  This  leaves  no  great  space 
before  we  ascend  to  Antoine  Maurice,  the  immediate  successor 
of  Benedict  Pictet,  as  teacher  of  theology  in  Geneva  ;  who  was 
himself  the  favourite  pupil,  and  successor  of  Francis  Turrettin. 
Here  as  in  other  churches,  God  has  not  left  himself  wholly 
without  a  witness  in  its  darkest  days  ;  and  here  as  over  all  the 
world,  he  has  of  late  years  made  manifest  his  great  power,  in 
the  conversion  of  sinners  to  himself. 

The  spiritual  declension  of  which  I  have  spoken  as  common 
to  all  lands,  was  not  at  all  more  remarkable  than  have  been 
the  succeeding  revivals  of  sound  doctrine  and  true  piety,  which 
during  the  current  century  have  manifested  themselves  with  an 
equal  universality.  It  does  not  fall  within  the  present  design, 
to  attempt  either  a  history  or  a  minute  exposition,  of  either  of 
these  most  remarkable  manifestations.  I  speak  now  only  of  the 
fact,  in  regard  to  the  latter  and  blessed  series  of  events.  In 
America  and  in  Great  Britain,  the  actual  as  compared  with  the 
comparatively  recent  state  of  Christian  doctrine  and  effort,  is  so 
striking  as  to  be  incapable  of  being  overlooked  by  the  slightest 
observer,  or  the  most  careless  reader.  Though  less  known  and 
operating  on  a  smaller  scale,  the  same  influences  have  been  felt 
in  every  Protestant  church  in  continental  Europe.  Even  the 
Jews,  the  Christians  who  profess  the  faith  and  rites  of  the  Greek 
church,  many  portions  of  the  Roman  church,  and  all  the  scat- 


FOREIGN    TRAVEL.  219 

lered  fragments  which  bear  the  Christian  name,  up  and  down, 
throughout  the  world ;  have  felt  the  indwelling  power  of  the 
same  all-pervading  cause,  and  have  roused  themselves  up,  with 
the  power  of  an  unusual  impulse,  to  investigate  the  things  which 
belong  to  the  peace  of  their  souls.  Nor  have  systems  more 
absolutely  false,  retained  their  votaries  unmoved  amidst  this 
shaking  of  the  nations.  But  all  testimonies,  from  all  lands,  unite 
in  exhibiting  the  entire  mass  of  human  intelligence,  as  waking 
up  with  unprecedented  alacrity  to  the  importance  of  religious 
ideas;  and  as  inclining  itself  to  the  consideration  of  that  truth 
for  which  God  has,  at  the  same  moment,  and  so  wonderfully  and 
so  variously  opened  ways  by  which  it  might  run  a  free  course. 
The  story  of  this  strange  work  in  most  lands,  needs  to  be  fully 
told.  And  then  we  shall  hear,  from  Holland,  Denmark,  Ger- 
many, France,  Switzerland,  and  I  know  not  what  other  states  of 
Europe,  accounts  that  will  be  to  us,  not  less  replete  with  interest; 
than  the  mighty  work  of  personal  conversion  in  America,  and 
the  great  efforts  for  external  good  in  England,  are  for  all  mankind 
who  love  the  Lord. 

In  Geneva  their  revival  of  religion  was  set  in  motion  by  the 
labours  of  a  foreigner,  and  a  layman.  Robert  Haldane  of  Scot- 
land, now  well  known  by  his  Commentary  on  the  Epistle  to  the 
Romans,  and  his  severe  (f  do  not  say  unjust)  Strictures  on  the 
Semi-Pelagian  spirit  and  tendency  of  a  portion  of  the  American 
and  British  churches ;  found  himself  at  Geneva  somewhere 
about  the  year  1816.  He  was  a  stranger  in  the  country,  and 
gpoke  its  language  so  badly,  as  to  be  quite  incapable  of  sustain- 
ing an  argument  in  it.  He  drew  around  him  a  few  young 
persons;  he  covered  his  table  with  Bibles  in  many  languages; 
and  his  might  in  the  Scriptures,  was  his  only  weapon.  He 
comprehended  objections,  which  he  could  not  answer.  His 
reply  was,  a  pointed  and  clear  text  of  Scripture,  indicated  both 
in  the  original  tongue  and  the  required  version.  The  blessing 
of  God  was  richly  added  to  these  apparently  fruitless  labours ; 
and  of  the  multitudes  who  attended  on  them,  from  time  to  time, 
many  were  converted  to  Christ ;  and  others,  perhaps  already 
his  timid  followers,  greatly  strengthened  and  enlarged.    From 


220  MEMORANDA    OF 

this  moment,  the  power  of  divine  tilings  assumed  a  new  aspect 
at  Geneva.  And  not  a  few  of  those,  most  owned  of  God  as- 
instruments  of  subsequent  good,  could  trace  their  own  streanx 
cf  blessings  directly  or  renaotely  to  this  devoted  foreigner.  Nor 
can  it  be  passed  without  observation,  that  in  this  great  religious 
movement  at  Geneva,  a  very  large  proportion  o-f  the  earliest 
converts,  as  well  as  oi'  the  most  precious  subsequent  fruits  ;  have 
been  found  amongst  the  descendents  of  those  persecuted  Christ- 
ians, to  whom  the  city  opened  her  gates,  centuries  ago.  The 
children  of  the  Hugonots  an<d  of  the  Italian  refugees,  are  choseu 
of  God,  to  restore  in  other  lands  what  their  fathers  bled  for  iia 
their  own  ;  and  are  thus  in  the  noblest  of  all  ways,  teaching 
nations  how  w^ise  and  how  politic  true  goodness  and  virtue 
always  are ! 

There  are  at  present  in  Geneva-,  three  distinct  and  entirely 
separate  organizations,  in  which  the  great  doctrines  of  the 
Christian  religion  are  professed,  loved,  and  taught.  I  cannot 
speak  with  certainty  as  to  the  order  of  time  in  which  they 
arose ;  nor  is  it  very  important.  I  have  the  impression,  how- 
ever, that  the  venerable  Dr.  Malan  was  the  first  wha  open'v 
preached  Christ,  after  the  second  Reformation  in  Geneva ;  and 
he  has  had  his  reward  from  men,  in  revilings,  persecutions,  and 
insults,  which  the  lapse  of  time  scarcely  migrates.  I  was 
assured  that  to  the  present  moment,  he  rarely  escapes  some 
marked  indignity,  in  word  or  act,  when  he  passes  the  streets  of 
his  native  city.  And  I  have  reason  to  know  that  his  heart  is 
broken,  under  trials  so  long  continued  and  so  harsh  ;  and  which 
he  has  borne  with  so  much  apparent  tranquillity.  He  has  this 
at  least  to  cheer  him,  that  while  God  has  made  him  the  instru- 
ment of  great  good  in  Switzerland — has  made  his  name  dear  to 
thousands  in  other  lands — and  has  reserved  his  recompense  fo? 
the  great  day.  He  has  no  connexion  with  the  National  church 
of  Geneva;  but  serves  a  dissenting  congregation,  whic.*!  he  has 
gathered  himself:  and  occupies  here,  a  situation  entirely  resem- 
bhng  that  occupied  by  the  seceding  Presbyterians  of  Scotland  ; 
with  whose  principles  and  views  I  think  he  entirely  accords,  li 
is  rather  remarkable^  and  I  think  of  questionable  propriety,  that 


I 


FOREIGN   TRAVEL.  221 

with  his  peculiar  views,  he  should  never  have  attempted  to 
gather  into  a  united  body,  the  various  persons  in  the  surrounding 
region  who  participate  in  his  views.  There  are  certainly  two 
very  different  courses  to  be  pursued  on  such  occasions,  both  of 
which  are  subject  to  serious  modifications,  and  in  favour  of  both 
of  which  much  may  be  advanced.  I  take  the  conduct  of  George 
Whitefield,  and  John  Wesley,  to  be  very  striking  illustrations  of 
these  opposite  courses.  And  I  believe,  a  candid  and  full  exam- 
ination of  the  subject,  will  prove  that  the  policy  of  Mr.  Wesley 
was  not  only  far  more  effectual  for  the  spreading  of  a  peculiar 
set  of  opinions,  as  the  result  has  proved,  but  far  better  for  the 
world  at  large — and  far  more  influential  for  good  by  its  reflex 
influence,  even  upon  the  church  to  which  both  these  great  men 
belonged;  than  the  opposite  and  apparently  more  disinterested, 
but  really  less  sagacious  and  decided  policy  of  Whitefield.  Mr; 
Wesley's  followers  had  the  advantage  of  an  organization,  which 
separated  them  to  themselves,  and  united  them  firmly  together ; 
and  by  means  of  which  their  conquests  were  shaped  as  they 
were  achieved.  Mr.  Whitefield  overlooked  this  prime  necessity ; 
and  posterity  has  had  to  mourn  the  comparative  inconsequence 
of  his  great  labours;  labours,  whose  fruits,  for  lack  of  being 
gathered  together  and  strengthened,  niay  have  been  originally 
more  diffused — but  are  certainly  now  far  less  effective. 

There  is,  however,  another  organization  at  Geneva,  the  second 
of  the  three  alluded  to  above,  which  has  done  what  Dr.  Malan 
did  not  attempt.    The  church  of  the  Bourg  de  Four,  is  an 
evangelical  one,  built  upon  the  general  principles  of  the  congre- 
gational dissenters  of  England.    It  is  a  small  body,  worshipping 
in  a  little  upper  chamber,  and  served  by  three  pious  ministers : 
Messrs.  Empeytaz,  Guers  and  Lhuistier.    I  attended  one  of 
these  services,  and  heard  a  plain  and  faithful  exposition  of  a 
portion  of  Scripture  from  the  gentleman  first  named.     There 
are  scattered  through  Switzerland  and  France,  a  considerable 
number  of  small  and  weak  churches  of  this  kind;   who  are 
united  to  each  other  as  closely  as  their  peculiar  views  permit ; 
and  who  are  admitted  on  all  hands  to  be  doing  good ;  especially 
in  the  humble  walks  of  life.    Ifet  their  views  are  in  some  respects 
20* 


^^^  MEMORANDA   OF 

peculiar,  and  their  discipline  not  less  so :  and  a  tincture  of  fana&* 
icism  seems  to  be  infused  into  much  of  their  system  and  plans. 
They  commune  every  Sabbath  day— they  permit  all  their  mem- 
bers to  take  part  in  the  public  religious  instruction  of  the  church 
— and  they  unite  in  the  same  body,  opinions  which  seem  to  afford 
constant  occasion  for  contention,  in  a  body  thus  organized ;  a? 
for  example,  in  this  little  society,  one  of  the  ministers  and  part 
of  the  body,  are  decided  Anabaptists.  Their  grand  idea  is,  to 
found  anew  the  apostolical  order  of  things ;  and  their  grand 
means  of  doing  this,  is  to  Irmit  their  views  exclusively  to  the 
pages  of  the  Bible.  But  it  is  somewhat  questionable  whether 
persons  af  limited  information  and  small  attainments,  (as  may 
be  presumed  to  be  the  case  with  this  connexion — its  members 
and  ministers  being  for  the  most  part,  from  the  lower  classes  of 
European  society  in  the  several  countries  where  it  exists) — can 
be  confidently  relied  on  to  extract  anew,  and  in  contempt  of  all 
external  helps,  the  aposto'lic  system  of  doctrine  and  order  out  of 
the  Bible.  Nor  have  we  any  right,  as  was  strikingly  observed 
to  me,  by  Mr.  Merle  d'  Aubigne  one  of  the  professors  in  the 
school  of  the  Evangelical  Society,  to  overlook  entirely  what  God 
has  taught  us,  by  his  providence  and  through  his  church  far 
eighteen  centuries.  In  settling  the  question  of  fact,  as  to  what 
was  the  apostolic  church — they  must  necessarily  err,  who  shut 
their  eyes  to  what  the  true  church  has  been,  during  these 
eighteen  centuries  that  the  Spirit  has  rested  in  her  bosom ;  and 
it  is  instructive  to  observe  how  uniformly  they  do  err,  and  how 
various  their  errors  are,  who  make  such  pretensions. 

The  most  considerable  and  promising  efforts  of  the  people 
of  God  at  Geneva,  is  that  making  by  the  members  of  the 
Evangelical  Society.  This  Society  is  composed  principally,  if 
not  entirely,  of  pious  members  of  the  national  church.  They 
have  not  seceded  f^m  it,  neither  have  they  been  cast  out  of  it ; 
and  although  that^hurch  itself  is  essentially  unsound,  its  estab- 
lished faith  is  pure.  They  have  preferred  to  labour  for  the 
restoration  of  the  church,  rather  than  to  array  themselves  hr 
opposition  to  it.  The  influences  which  this  society,  (for  it  i* 
obvious  that  in  its  present  eondition  it  cannot  be  called  a  church} 


FOREIGN   TRAVEL.  223 

is  exerting,  extend  so  much  beyond  Geneva,  that  it  is  not  of 
much  moment  to  enquire  what  is  best,  with  reference  to  Geneva 
alone.  But  it  is  perhaps  to  be  regretted,  that  it  was  not  given 
to  these  estimable  men,  to  see  more  clearly  the  evils  inherent  in 
a  church  establishment ;  and  as  a  consequence  to  put  their  great 
enterprise  on  a  footing  less  provisory  and  questionable  than  that 
of  an  imperfectly  organized  association.  For  the  rest,  there  is 
every  thing  to  make  glad  the  hearts  of  God's  people. 

This  Evangelical  Society  thus  constituted  in  1831,  has  for  its 
object,  as  it  expresses  itself,  "  to  labour  for  the  advancement  of 
the  Kingdom  of  God."  Its  work  is  divided  into  :  1st,  teaching 
theology;  2d,  the  popular  exposition  of  the  Scriptures  ;  3d,  the 
distribution  of  them.  In  each  of  these  departments  God  has 
most  signally  blessed  their  efforts. 

Professor  Gaussen  told  me,  that  at  the  commencement  of  their 
labours,  an  individual  presented  himself  to  them,  and  said  :  "  I 
was  a  Catholic,  and  knew  not  God  ;  I  have  found  peace  in 
believing  upon  the  Lord  Jesus  ;  it  was  his  truth  that  set  me  free  ; 
and  now  I  offer  myself  to  you,  to  bear  that  truth  to  my  benighted 
brethren."  They  deliberated,  and  decided  not  to  send  the  man  ; 
as  they  had  no  funds,  no  Bibles,  and  but  scanty  means  of 
obtaining'either;  while  more  obvious  necessities  seemed  to  press 
them.  He  amongst  them,  whose  means  were  of  all  the  most  limit- 
ed, said  to  the  committee:  "Do  you  suppose  God  would  send  you 
this  man,  and  that  he  will  not  provide  the  means  to  work  with 
him  !  Employ  the  man,  and  if  at  the  end  of  the  year  you  have 
not  been  provided  with  means  for  the  enterprise,  I  will  contrib- 
ute them."  Behold  the  employment  of  their  first  Colporteur ! 
Their  fifth  annual  report,  made  in  June  1836,  slates  that  during 
the  preceding  year,  twenty-two  had  been  employed  ;  that  they 
had  laboured  in  twelve  of  the  eighty-six  departments  of  France, 
as  well  as  the  Canton  of  Geneva  ;  and  that  besides  the  distribu- 
tion of  tracts  and  religious  books,  thirty-one  thousand  copies  of 
the  Scriptures  had  been  sold  by  the  colporteurs  within  five 
years. 

Under  the  second  head  of  effort,  it  need  only  be  said,  that  the 
society  has  already  caused  the  gospel  to  be  widely  preached  in  the 


224  MEMORANDA   OF 

surrounding  region,  especially  in  France ;  where  five  churches, 
composed  almost  entirely  of  converted  Papists,  have  already 
been  gathered,  and  where  whole  villages  seem  ready  to  embrace 
the  true  faith,  if  suitable  pastors  could  be  provided  for  them ; 
that  it  has  vigorously  engaged  in  the  work  of  foreign  missions, 
already  embracing  Africa,  India,  and  the  Canadas,  in  the 
compass  of  its  labours;  and  that  a  comfortable,  and  crowded 
church,  in  the  heart  of  Geneva,  (L'  Oratoire,)  resounds  weekly 
with  the  glad  tidings  of  salvation,  preached  by  the  founders  of 
the  society. 

In  the  third  department,  their  success  has  not  been  less 
decided.  They  have  already  succeeded  in  establishing  a  pre- 
paratory school,  and  a  school  of  theology  of  the  first  class  in  ali 
respects.  The  tatter  is  furnished  with  five  professors,  of  whom 
I  have  several  times  mentioned  two :  the  Rev.  Mr.  Gaussen, 
who  fills  the  chair  of  Dogmatic  Theology  and  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Mearle  d'  Aubigne,  Professor  of  Church  History,  and  President 
of  the  school.  The  former  gentleman  has  perhaps  been  the 
most  prominent  instrument,  whom  God  has  used  in  bringing 
about  the  present  state  of  affairs ;  and  the  latter,  is  undoubtedly 
conferring  on  the  school  a  high  reputation,  by  his  great  Work 
on  the  Reformation,  of  which  a  part  has  been  some  time  before 
the  public— and  has  commanded  the  admiration  of  the  Christian 
world. 

That  portion  of  the  population  of  the  world  which  speaks 
the  French  language  exclusively,  or  better  than  any  other  lan- 
guage, cannot  be  estimated  at  less  than  fifty  millions  of  souls. 
Of  these  only  a  very  small  part,  possess  the  true  knowledge  of 
God:  and  multitudes  are  sunk  into  incredible  ignorance,  super- 
stition and  idolatry.  I  believe  a  slight  consideration  will  satisfy 
any  who  are  anxious  to  do  something  for  this  immense  popula- 
tion, embracing  in  iis  bosom  some  of  the  most  civilized  and 
some  of  the  most  degraded  portions  of  mankind  ;  that  scarce  any 
thing  better  offers,  through  which  to  effect  it,  than  the  Evangel- 
ical Society  of  Geneva.  Situated  in  the  centre  of  Europe; 
enjoying  the  advantages  of  perfect  and  well  established  civil 
freedom ;  worthy  in  itself  of  all  confidence ;  and  already  organ- 


FOREIGN    TRAVEL.  225 

ized  and  acting  efHciently,  in  the  various  fields  of  Missions,  Bible 
and  Tract  distribution,  the  training  of  youth  for  the  ministry, 
the  preaching  of  the  gospel,  and  the  support  of  schools  both 
preparatory  and  theological ;  it  only  needs  the  prayers  and  the 
aid  ot  the  people  of  God,  to  do  a  work  grand  in  its  extent,  and 
blessed  in  all  its  parts !  A  work  in  which,  as  it  relates  to  the 
nations  speaking  the  French  language,  it  has  and  can  have  few 
helpers,  and  no  superior ;  and  as  it  relates  to  the  evangelization 
of  the  world  besides,  one,  of  which  it  has  shown  itself  most  ready 
to  undertake  its  full  share,  and  through  God's  blessing,  most 
capable  of  performing  it.  I  shall  consider  it  a  peculiar  goodness 
of  God,  if  this  imperfect  sketch  is  instrumental  in  turning  the 
attention  of  American  Christians  to  Geneva ;  that  on  the  one 
hand  they  may  be  warned  by  the  past  errors  of  their  brethren, 
of  the  house  of  their  fathers ;  and  on  the  other,  may  rejoice  in, 
and  help  the  work  which  the  hand  of  the  Lord  is  now  bringing 
to  pass. 

It  would  give  me  great  pain,  to  produce  a  false  impression  in 
regard  to  this  interesting  community.  And  I  see  myself  liable 
to  be  misunderstood  on  two  points ;  the  first,  that  some  may 
suppose  the  national  church  to  be  worse  than  it  is;  the  second, 
that  others  may  consider  the  people  better  than  they  are,  I 
spent  two  Sabbath  days  in  Geneva,  on  a  part  of  one  of  which  I 
worshipped  in  the  ancient  cathedral  of  the  city — the  place  where 
the  wise  and  holy  men  I  have  so  often  referred  to,  laboured  with 
joy  and  success  for  so  long  a  period.  It  was  the  afternoon  ;  and 
the  congregation  seemed  but  a  handful  in  the  immense  area. 
The  pastor  took  for  the  exercise,  the  1 — 12  versos  of  the  V. 
chapter  of  Matthew's  gospel:  and  to  my  great  surprise  and 
sincere  delight,  expounded  and  enforced  the  passage,  with  clear- 
ness, truth  and  fervour.  1  asked  the  person  who  sat  next  to  me, 
to  wrile  on  a  card  the  pastor's  name.  He  wrote,  M.  Barde.  I 
was  grieved  to  learn  from  every  quarter  that  there  were  not 
many  ministers,  and  perhaps  hardly  another  pastor  (for  in  this 
church  the  sound  and  scriptural  distinction  between  the  two  is 
still  preserved,)  from  whom  I  should  have  heard  doctrine  so 
decidedly  evangelical.     I  had  also  the  pleasure   to  make   the 


226  MEMORANDA    OF 

acquaintance  of  two  members  of  the  venerable  company  of  pas- 
tors, whose  kindness  deserved  raj  thanks,  as  much  as  their 
intelliijence  excited  my  interest.  And  in  general,  I  thittk  the 
hves  of  the  members  of  that  body  are  in  private  blameless  to  a 
degree  not  common  either  in  most  established  clergy,  or  in 
decided  errorists. 

As  to  the  religious  condition  of  the  people  at  large,  the  most 
glaring  and  melancholy  proofs  abound,  that  it  is  as  deplorable  as 
can  well  be  imagined,  in  a  community  so  singularly  well  ordered 
and  blessed  in  temporal  respects.  I  have  spoken  in  another  place 
of  their  Sabbath  day  markets  for  the  hire  of  labourers.  The 
theatres  of  the  town  were  opened  both  Sabbath  nights  I  was  in 
it.  Th©  bridge  which  connects  the  island  in  the  Rhone  with 
the  two  shores  of  the  river,  in  the  midst  of  the  city,  passes  in 
the  rear  of  the  various  water  powers  which  belong  to  the  city  or 
private  persons :  and  in  the  same  region  are  extensive  mills.  I 
crossed  this  bridge  on  the  Sabbath  afternoon,  and  found  all  the 
machines  but  one  in  full  operation.  The  same  afternoon,  I 
encountered  hundreds  of  persons  on  the  Plain  Palais,  ju»t  out- 
side the  gate,  on  the  left  bank  of  the  Rhone,  engaged  in  gam- 
bling, juggling,  and  every  sort  of  amusement,  which  the  Sabbath 
day  brings  with  it  in  countries  strictly  Catholic.  Of  the  population 
of  this  Canton  about  one-third  are  Catholics  ;  and  priests,  many 
of  whom  probably  belong  to  the  neighbouring  parishes  of  France 
and  Savoy,  are  so  numerous,  that  I  never  walked  the  streets 
without  encountering  them.  The  combined  influence  of  popery 
and  infidelity,  has  dreadfully  perverted  the  day  of  holy  rest  into 
a  day  of  riot  and  excess,  for  the  lower  classes;  and  of  sinful 
and  idle  recreation  for  the  rest. 

During  my  stay  in  Geneva  the  Grand  Council  met,  to  elect 
delegates  to  the  Extraordinary  Diet  called  together  by  the  Fe- 
deral Directors,  in  consequence  of  the  recent  and  outrageous 
conduct  of  the  French  government  and  its  ambassador,  the  Duke 
of  Monte  Bello  ;  which  I  have  before  detailed.  I  was  fortunate 
enough  to  get  a  place  in  the  crowded  gallery  of  the  large  hall  in 
which  this  body  met.  In  it  resides  the  sovereignty  of  the  Repub- 
lic, so  far  as  it  is  delegated  at  all.    It  was  a  strange  contrast,  and 


FOREIGN   TRAVEL.  227 

altogether  a  singular  spectacle  to  one  who  had  read  the  injurious 
and  insolent  accusations  of  the  French  authorities,  against  the 
dominant  party  in  the  confederacy;  to  behold  this  numerous, 
grave  and  sedate  tribunal.  "  Factious—insensate — enemies  of 
social  order — and  disturbers  of  the  quiet  of  all  neighbouring 
states :"  these  and  similar  epithets,  in  the  opinion  of  the  minis- 
ters of  the  king  of  the  French,  truly  describe  the  tribunal  before 
my  eyes  ! — I  have  seen  both  houses  of  the  Parliament  of  Great 
Britain  repeatedly  in  session  ;  I  have  often  witnessed  sessions  of 
the  most  important  kind,  of  the  Senate  and  House  of  Represent- 
atives of  the  Congress  of  the  United  States — and  of  both  branch- 
es of  many  of  our  stale  legislatures:  I  have  been  called  to  act 
on  many  and  stirring  occasions,  in  bodies  small  and  great — pop- 
ular, legislative  and  ecclesiastical :  and  I  am  ready  to  say,  that 
the  conduct  of  this  Assembly,  appeared  to  me  most  eminently 
dignified,  serious  and  wise ;  out  of  all  comparison  more  so,  than 
the  French  Chamber  of  Deputies,  in  the  best  estate  in  which  it 
was  ever  my  fortune  to  witness  its  riotous  and  uproarous  pro- 
ceedings. A  frontier  Canton,  surrounded  by  the  territories  of 
foreign  and  at  that  moment  almost  hostile  states ;  there  was  an 
absolute  assurance  that  in  the  event  of  war  they  must  be  the  first 
and  most  continual  sufferers  ;  and  in  the  event  of  continued  non- 
intercourse,  the  most  deeply  injured,  of  any  of  the  Cantons. 
Besides  this,  nothing  could  be  more  clear  than  the  fact  that  Swit- 
zerland instead  of  having  reason  to  appease  France,  had  been 
throughout  the  injured  party  ;  except  that  other  fact,  that  Eu- 
rope would  force  her  or  permit  her  to  be  forced  into  concessions 
merely  because  she  was  free  and  weak  !  Yet  in  these  trying  cir- 
cumstances, the  committee  entrusted  with  the  subject  read  a  re- 
port, at  once  clear,  temperate,  and  manly  ;  the  large  assembly 
listened  in  profound  silence  ;  the  few  speakers  briefly,  firmly,  and 
teriiperately  exhibited  their  views ;  the  body  unanimously  agreed 
iu  the  course  it  became  them  to  take  ;  and  the  two  delegates  ap- 
pointed to  represent  Geneva  in  the  Diet,  received  with  serious- 
ness, in  the  midst  of  the  tribunal,  the  oaths  and  the  instructions 
by  which  their  country  would  assure  at  once  the  fact  and  the 
naanaer  of  their  fidelity.    The  whole  transaction  did  not  con- 


228  MEMORANDA    OF 

sume  four  hours.  And  its  results  might  be,  alas !  how  fearful  !— 
Ah  !  my  friends,  it  is  well  for  us,  and  for  the  peace  of  the  world, 
and  perhaps  for  you  also ;  that  in  this  time  of  your  trial,  the 
wide  sea  is  between  your  oppressors  and  our  generous  youth. 

The  principal  burial  ground  of  Geneva,  the  Cimeiiere  de  V 
Ep^alite,  where  rest  the  bones  of  so  many  illustrious  dead,  is  near 
the  Plain  Palais  of  which  I  have  already  spoken,  as  the  scene  of 
the  Sabbath  day  sports  of  those — the  bones  of  whose  holy  an- 
cestors are  mouldering  in  sight.     I  asked  to  be  shown  the  grave 
of  Calvin.    We  know  not  where  it  is  ;  was  the  reply.    Beza's  ? 
Turrettin's  ?  Pictet's,? — The  answer  was  still  the  same.     Some- 
where in  the  large  compass  of  the  cemetery — perhaps  in  a  par- 
ticular corner  of  it — but  where  precisely  no  one  knows,  rest  the 
ashes — not  only  of  these  renowned  men,  and  others  like  them, 
but  also  of  many  generations  of  Genevese,   without  a  vestige 
by  which  it  is  possible  to  distinguish  one  grave  from  another. 
It  is  truly,  as  they  call  it,  the  cemetry  of  equality ;  and  they 
might  add  of  oblivion  too,  as  to  the  great  mass  of  its  tenants. 
And  is  not  the   lesson,  true  as  it  is  solemn?     How  few  are 
there  whose  memory  survives  a  few  brief  months  or  years ; 
whose  place  in  all  hearts  is  not  fully  occupied,  before  their  dust 
returns  to  dust  again  ;  and  whose  position  amongst  men,  deem- 
ed so  important  by  themselves,  is  not  filled  as  soon  as  the  body  fills 
its  narrow  resting  place  ?    Then  why  seek  to  perpetuate  what 
has  no  real  existence ;  and  what  therefore  cannot  abide  ?    And 
oh !  why  loose  what  may  be  won  on  the  other  side  oi"  that  silent 
abode,  in  vain  struggles  after  something  on  this  side  of  it,  which 
cannot  be  obtained  ?    On  the  other  hand,  the  fe-w  who  deserve  a 
monument  in  fact  need  none.    Or  if  they  both  deserve  and  win 
the  most  lasting  of  all,  in  the  gratitude  of  the  good  for  the  bless- 
ings they  have  bestowed;   it  is  at  the  highest  nothing  to  that 
simple  sentence  written  over  the  entrance  of  this  city  of  the  dead. 
"  Blessed  are  the  dead  who  die  in  the  Lord,  they  rest  from  their 
labours,  and  their  works  do  follow  them." — If  the  dead  are  indeed 
blessed,  it  is  lighter  than  the  dust  of  the  balance,  to  demand 
what  they  were  in  life  ;  or  who  forgot  them  when  life  was  gone ! 
Beware,  that  the  blessedness  of  death  and  the  repose  for  which 


FOREIGN   TRAVEL.  229 

-A^e  sigh,  and  the  sweet  and  rich  succession  of  the  fruits  of  \oncr 
and  unrequited  toil;  all— all — beware  of  it  my  soul — are  only 
'  in  the  Lord"! 

It  seems  to  have  been  a  universal  religious  principle  among 
tliese  people  until  very  lately,  to  distinguish  in  no  way  the  graves 
of  their  departed  friends.  To  a  great  extent  the  effects  of  some 
such  principle  are  still  clearly  visible.  The  most  of  the  re- 
cent graves  have  no  memorial,  but  the  little  bank  of  earth  or 
sod.  Every  thing  is  done  neatly  and  evidently  cared  for  with 
great  particularity.  A  very  large  proportion  of  the  monuments 
are  those  of  foreigners ;  and  few  of  any  kind  are  older  than  forty 
years.  Many  of  those  of  the  native  population,  are  made  of  the 
most  frail  materials;  as  if  designed  to  be  transitory.  I  observed 
several  which  consisted  of  a  few  lines  written  on  a  piece  of  paper 
and  hung  over  the  grave  in  frames  like  pictures.  Others  though 
of  a  more  permanent  character,  were  strictly  private  ;  and  ne- 
cessarily confined  the  information  conveyed  in  ihem,  to  a  few 
persons.  One  ran  thus  :  "  Beloved  thou,  will  live  forever  in  the 
hearts  of  thy  husband  and  children.'^  There  was  neither  name 
nor  date.  Another  had  only  initials  and  figures :  *'  H.  C.  R.  B. 
24.  7  February  1830."  A  third  consisted  of  a  rough  block  of 
black  marble,  across  the  front  of  which  a  narrow  line  was  highly 
polished,  and  the  name  "  Marianne'^  written  in  letters  of  gold. 
How  plainly  is  the  character  of  a  people,  written  in  their 
'eemeteries  I 


Vol.  n.— 21 


230  MEMORANDA  OF 


CHAPTER    XXIV 


Klnadom  of  Sardinia— Savoy— Popular  Superstition,  Adoration  of  the  Sacrec 
Heart— Horrible  Extent  of  Goitre  and  Idiocy— Singular  Trait— National  Charac- 
ter—European Dialects— Specimens  of  Savoyard  Patois. 


The  ancient  County  of  Savoy  belonfrs  at  present  to  the  King 
of  Sardinia,  and  on  that  account,  appertains  to  the  poHtical  sys- 
tem of  Italy.  But  it  belongs  much  more  naturally  to  France,  of 
which  it  formed  a  part  under  the  Republic  and  the  Empire  :  or 
indeed  to  the  great  German  family,  of  which  it  onee  constituted 
a  member.  Its  territories  now  limited  to  the  southern  shore  of 
Lac  Leman,  once  extended  far  north  of  it,  embracinrr  some  of 
the  best  portions  of  Switzerland.  Its  earliest  known  inhabitants 
were.of  the  great  Celtic  family,  which  seems  to  have  covered  all 
Europe.  When  the  Romans  first  crossed  the  Alps,  all  the  vast 
region  at  their  western  base  was  peopled  by  fierce  tribes,  to 
whom  they  gave  names  as  well  as  laws  ;  amongst  their  descend- 
ants, both  the  one  and  the  other  are  effaced.  What  is  now 
Savoy,  was  the  country  of  the  Alobroges;  the  implacable  ene- 
mies of  Rome,  and  the  head  of  the  earliest  confederacy  formed 
auainst  her  arms,  on  the  upper  side  of  the  Alps.  The  conquest 
of  these  hardy  republicans  was  deemed  so  important  a  service  to 
the  slate— that  Fabius  Maximus  had  the  cognomen  of  Alobro- 
gius  conferred  on  him^  for  having  achieved  it.  In  the  territorial 
arrangement  of  the  empire  by  Augustus,  this  region  formed  the 
o-reater  part  of  his  third  Narbonensian  district.     In  a  succeeding 


FOREIGN    TRAVEL,  231 

age  the  Alobroges  and  their  neiglibours  shared  the  fate  of  Eu- 
rope ;  and  fell  successively  under  the  yoke  of  the  Ostrogoths,  the 
Burgundians  and  the  Francs,  who  with  their  kindred  tribes  sub- 
jugated the  world ;  barbarians  whose  descendants  have  ruled 
Europe  for  twelve  centuries,  without  mankind  having  yet  setiled 
the  problem  who  they  were,  or  whence  they  came.  At  the  di- 
vision of  the  Empire  of  Charlemagne  this  portion  of  it  was 
•assigned  to  Lothaire;  who  being  crowned  Emperor  of  Germany, 
Alobrogia  Sabaudia  or  Savoy,  became  Httnched  to  the  Germanic 
body,  and  thus  gave  rise  to  the  so  much  contested  right  of  the 
(iukes  of  Savo}'  to  be  represented  in  the  Diet  oi  the  empire. — The 
HouL^e  of  Savoy  is  one  of  great  antiquity;  but  it  was  not  till  liie 
beginning  of  the  fifteenth  century  that  the  Ducal  rank  was  con- 
ferred on  it.  In  the  year  1416  the  Emperor  Segismond  confer- 
red this  rank  on  Victor  Amedius,  whose  subsequent  career  was 
so  remarkable.  He  built  the  Carthusian  Monastery  at  Ripaille, 
on  the  borders  of  Lac  Leman,  to  which  he  retired  in  company 
with  some  of  his  nobles ;  and  from  which  seclusion,  after  it  had 
continued  five  years,  he  was  drawn  by  his  election  to  the  Pope- 
dom, in  1439,  by  the  council  of  Basle.  I  have  mentioned  his 
resignation  of  that  title  at  Lausanne,  in  a  preceding  chapter. 

The  population  of  Savoy  is  at  present  only  half  a  million ; 
nearly  the  whole  of  whom  are  given  up  to  the  most  deplorable 
superstitions  of  the  papal  religion.  At  the  little  village  of  St. 
Michaels,  in  the  upper  valley  of  St.  Jean  de  Maurienne,  I  ob- 
.-served  a  large  new  cross,  with  a  figure  of  the  Saviour  of  unusual 
dimensions,  and  a  metal  plate  attached  to  the  cross  bearing, 
in  French,  the  following  inscription  :  "  Mar.  Alexis  Billiet  Bish- 
•'  op  of  Maurienne,  grants  forty  days  indulgence,  to  all  who  re- 
''  peat  one  Pater,  and  one  .^ue,  with  an  act  of  contrition  before 
"  this  cross,  erected  on  the  occasion  of  a  mission  made  in  Nov- 
^'  ember  1834."  A  majority  of  the  women,  of  all  classes,  whom 
I  encountered  in  Savoy,  had  metal  hearts  hung  around  their 
necks ;  sometimes  of  silver,  but  more  frequently  of  brass  vr  gi.'t, 
i)r  possibly  gold.  These  attached  by  broad  black  ribbons  or 
metal  chains,  arid  hung  so  often  over  the  terrible  swellings  in  the 
ihruat,  excite  attention ;  and  .their  perpetual  recurrence  induced 


232  MEMORANDA    OF 

me  to  enquire  why  they  were  so  common,  and  why  of  so  singular 
a  fancy,  and  all  alike.  The  explanation  filled  me  with  sorrow, 
and  afforded  another  proof  of  the  growing  idolatry  of  the  popish 
sect.  It  seems  that  a  certain  sister  somebody  at  Paris,  towards 
the  end  of  the  seventeenth  century,  pretended  to  have  a  mirac- 
ulous sight  of  the  Saviour  vouchedsafe  to  her;  and  that  he  ex- 
hibited to  her  his  human  heart,  crowned  with  thorns,  supporting 
a  cross,  and  resting  on  a  throne  of  flames.  Amongst  much  else, 
he  informed  her  that  it  was  his  will  that  all  mankind  should  wor- 
ship under  this  symbol,  the  hearts  of  himself  and  the  Virgin 
Mary  ;  and  that  she  had  been  selected  as  the  special  instrument 
to  establish  and  propagate  this  new  and  favourite  worship,  t(* 
which  the  title  of  adoration  of  the  Sacred  Hearty  was  given. 
With  some  trouble  the  matter  got  footing  amongst  the  faithful. 
Presently  Popes  approved,  and  Doctors  favoured  it.  But  it  went 
on  slowly,  till  the  Jesuits  during  the  period  of  their  suppression, 
about  a  century  after  the  origin  of  this  superstition,  laid  hold  ot' 
it,  as  an  instrument  to  sustain  themselves,  and  unite  their  party 
during  their  disgrace  in  the  papal  sect.  At  present,  it  is  perhaps 
of  all  the  subordinate  superstitions  of  Romanism,  the  most  wide- 
ly diffused.  It  consists  in  a  periodical  series  of  worship,  to  the 
human  hearts  of  Jesus  and  Mary;  rendered  at  a  fixed  hour  of 
every  day  by  all  who  belong  to  the  association ;  in  addition  to 
which,  a  fixed  day  of  every  week,  one  of  every  month,  and  one 
of  every  year,  is  a  sort  of  special  day  of  worship:  and  still  far- 
ther the  day  of  the  birth  of  the  worshipper,  and  that  on  which 
he  or  she  joined  the  fraternity,  are  kept  as  peculiarly  sacred. 
When  a  member  gives  his  adhesion  to  the  body,  some  trinket,  or 
similar  thing  is  presented  to  him,  with  his  name,  age,  and  the 
day  and  hour  when  he  joined  the  body  inscribed  on  it.  This  h 
required  to  be  worn  in  some  conspicuous  manner,  so  that  tht^ 
fraternity  may  be  universally  known  to  each  other.  In  Savoy, 
the  metal  hearts  of  which  I  have  spoken  are  the  badges  of  the 
female  members  ;  and  the  extent  of  the  order  may  be  conjectur- 
ed from  what  I  have  already  said  of  the  perpetual  recurrence  of^ 
the  signal. — The  object  of  the  association  is  simple  and  unique  ; 
it  is,  iiie  universal  re-establishment  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Reli^ 


FOREIGN    TRAVEL,  233 

gion.  It  has  been  about  one- third  of  a  century  since  the  Venetian 
Vespers;  the  massacre,  namely,  of  the  French  Soldiers  in  Italy, 
at  the  instigation  of  the  priests  and  nobles  of  Venice.  So  long  a 
period  has  seldom  elapsed,  without  being  signalized  by  some 
work  of  blood,  to  promote  this  terrible  superstition.  At  no  pe- 
riod have  they  perfected  an  organization  better  fitted  for  such, 
attempts  from  its  very  nature,  or  more  widely  diffused' amongst 
the  lower  classes,  than  the  devotion  of  the  Sacred  Heart*  How 
far  this  apprehension  should  be  allayed  by  the  fact,  that  the  Je- 
suits are  the  prime  agents  of  this  conspiracy  against  mankind — 
can  be  best  decided  by  those  states,  from  whose  territories  they 
have  been  so  repeatedly  expelled  for  their  crimes. 

The  people  of  Savoy  differ  from  one  another,  according  to  their 
local  situation,  more  than  those  of  any  other  state  in  Europe. 
Tliose  who  occupy  the  highest  arable  summits  of  the  mountains, 
are  a  tall,  comely,  athletic  race;  and  cannot  be  looked  upon 
without  striking  the  beholder  favourably  as  to  their  physical 
qualities.  Those  who  reside  along  the  narrow  and  marshy 
banks  of  the  streams  that  course  along  at  the  bases  of  these  ele- 
vated mountains,  are  the  most  miserable  population  I  have  seen 
any  where  ;  small,  pale  and  inert,  they  look  like  the  victims  of 
incurable  disease,  and  wear  upon  their  features  those  traces  of  an- 
guish vv'hich  k)ng  conthuied  suffering  stamps  upon  the  human 
visage.  Those  wlio  have  no  visible  disease,  have  that  appear- 
ance which  long  confinement  produces.  But  from  the  moment 
you  leave  Chamberry,  till  you  arrive  at  the  foot  of  mount  Cenis 
— a  distance  of  about  a  hundred  miles,  along  the  Izere  and  the 
Arc — I  think  at  least  every  third  adult  you  meet  has  goitre. 
Throughout  Savoy,  the  sick  of  this  horrid  and  incurable  malady 
are  reckoned  at  one  person  in  every  ihirty-three.  But  in  the 
valley  just  mentioned,  it  exists  in  a  proportion  and  with  a  malig- 
nity much  more  frightful.  Many  women  have  two  immense 
swellings,  one  on  either  side  of  the  neck  ;  many  have  the  whole 
neck  so  swollen,  as  to  take  away  all  appearance  of  having  any 
neck  ;  many  have  a  single  protuberance  in  the  centre,  or  at  the 
lower  extremity  of  the  throat,  as  large  as  the  head  of  an  infant. 
Men  have  them ;  children  have  them ;  many  persons  have  a 
21* 


234  MEMORANDA    OF 

look  so  questionable,  that  you  are  at  a  loss  to  decide  Whether 
they  are  children  with  goitres,  or  superanuated  dwarfs.  And 
what  is  most  terrible  of  all,  the  mental  diseases  of  the  people  seem 
proportionate  to  those  of  their  bodies;  and  along  a  region  fronri 
which  the  sun  is  hid  for  three  months  of  the  year, — the  light  of 
reason  is  lost  forever,  to  a  fearful  multitude.  In  all  the  little  vil- 
lages, as  we  passed,  idiots  were  loitering  along  the  streets,  lean- 
ing against  the  houses,  or  sitting  in  the  dirt,  in  rags,  with  matted 
hair,  and  the  saliva  running  from  their  half  open  mouths.  In 
villages  of  the  smallest  size,  there  would  be  five  or  sis,  or  more, 
af  these  unhappy  and  apparently  neglected  beings ;  and  in  those 
still  larger,  a  relative  increase.  In  the  small  patches  of  arable 
land  along  the  way  side,  I  have  seen  them  working  sometimes 
singly,  sometimes  two  idiots  and  a  sane  person,  often  several  idiotb- 
alone.  It  is  horrible  to  behold,  or  even  to  recall  such  scenes. 
But  I  am  sure  that  every  traveller  who  passes  up  the  valley  of 
the  Arc,  or  St.  Jean  de  Maiirienne,  as  it  is  commonly  called,  will 
see  encvugh  of  these  spectacles  to  make  him  turn  his  back  on  i% 
forever. 

i  I  observed  with  surprise  that  persons  in  affluent  circumstances, 
/  seemed  to  be  in  a  great  degree  exempt  from  both  these  afflicting 
I  visitations ;  and  that  the  victims  of  them  seemed  more  absolute 
'  sufferers,  in  proportion  to  their  apparent  destitution.  The  con- 
nexion of  hereditary  idi-ocy  with  hereditary  goitre  should  not 
perhaps  be  asserted,  except  on  fiir  belter  information  than  I 
possess;  but  obviously  they  belong  to  the  same  class  and  con- 
dition, and  to  them  almost  alone.  It  may  be  also,  that  the  men- 
tal disease,  exists  only  where  goitre  has  proceeded  to  the  greatest 
extent.  I  do  not  mean  in  individual  cases ;  for  many  individuab 
have  one  affection  without  the  other;  but  in  regard  to  locality. 
Thus  although  I  observed  many  persons  with  goitre  in  Switzer- 
land, especially  in  the  cantons  of  Vaud  and  Geneva,  I  never  saw 
an  idiot  there.  It  would  be  still  more  out  of  place  for  me  to  at- 
tempt  to  account  for  the  existence  of  goitre  itself;  when  both 
the  people  of  the  country,  and  the  men  of  science  who  have  in- 
vestigated the  subject,  have  assigned  opposite,  and  in  many 
cases  apparently  unequal  or  absurd  causes  for  it.     I  observed' 


FOREIGN   TRAVEL.  235 

however  several  facts,  which  if  properly  examined  and  followed, 
might  possibly  lead  to  important  results.  There  are  for  examp'., 
tea  times  as  many  victims  to  the  disease  on  the  west  as  on  the  east 
side  of  the  Alps ;  and  after  you  fairly  leave  them  behind  you,  and 
get  on  their  southern  flank,  as  in  the  ancient  county  of  Nice  and 
along  the  Mediterranean  coast  of  France — although  both  situa- 
tions are  upon  and  under  the  Alps — goitre  scarcely  exists. 
Following  the  same  principle,  there  are  no  cases  around  lake  Zug, 
but  they  prevail  to  a  great  extent  around  lake  Leman,  and  fear- 
fully under  the  cold  shade  of  the  Alps,  in  the  gorges  of  Savoy,  all 
oa  the  west  and  north-west  side  of  the  range.  It  seems  in  other 
words,  a  disease  of  climate ;  and  the  rigour  of  a  damp,  cold  and 
shaded  situation,  acting  upon  the  exposure  and  privation  incident 
to  poverty,  seemed  not  only  to  attend  it,  but  to  mark  exactly  its 
condition.  I  have  spoken  of  it  as  becoming  hereditary  in  its 
aggravated  stages,  because  I  heard  every  body  so  describe  it. 
But  I  have  no  knowledge  on  that  point. 

Strange  as  it  must  seem,  this  unhappy  population  exhibits  one 
moral  quality  of  a  high  grade.  Every  thing  conduces  to  make 
ttie  country  one  abounding  in  mendicants  ;  and  yet  I  did  not  see 
a  single  mendicant  in  it.  A  fact  which  I  could  not  repeat,  as  to 
any  other  considerable  portion  of  Europe.  But  in  Savoy,  I  have 
often  met  old  men  and  women  diseased,  decrepit,  ragged — driv- 
ing before  them  a  small  and  miserable  donkey  loaded  with  a  few 
stumps  f)r  winter  fuel;  or  trembling  under  the  weight  of  some 
equally  humble  burden ;  and  I  have  thought  now  they  will  solicit 
an  alms,  and  have  felt  they  are  entitled  to  my  aid.  But  they 
would  pass,  without  even  turning  their  faces  towards  us,  or  lift- 
ing them  from  the  earth.  When  I  have  had  it  in  purpose  to 
give  unsolicited  some  token  of  the  profound  sympathy  which  filled 
my  bosom,  they  have  glided  by  on  the  other  side  of  the  road,  or 
stood  out  of  reach  in  silent  inattention,  till  our  vehicle  had  passed. 

The  classes  of  which  I  have  spoken  do  not  however  embrace 
the  whole,  nor  the  majority  even  of  the  Savoyards.  They  are 
only  the  people  of  the  deep  vaLlies  and  the  high  mountain  tops. 
The  people  who  dwell  in  tlie  middle  region  between  these,  and 
those  who  occupy  the  plain  country  around  Anency  and  Cham- 


236  MEMORANDA   OF 

berry,  are  quite  distinct  from  both  the  foregoing.  A  race  of  dark 
and  sprightly  visage — active  and  rather  small  figures — intelli- 
gent, industrious,  and  exceedingly  enterprising ;  they  form  the 
class  of  labourers,  waiters,  chimney-sweeps,  and  to  some  extent 
musicians,  of  the  cities  in  the  surrounding  states.  These  last, 
however,  are  not  often  from  Savoy.  Although  the  singing  boys 
and  women  ;  the  lads  wnth  dancing  monkeys  and  hand  organs, 
and  the  peculiar  half  fiddle  that  sometimes  occupies  its  place,  are 
called  Savoyards  every  where ;  they  are  in  fact  generally  French, 
from  Dauphene,  from  Auvergne,  and  other  provinces.  The 
population,  and  the  country,  are  poor  and  barren,  and  the  climate 
generally  harsh  ;  so  that  it  is  easy  of  belief,  as  stated  by  the  more 
favoured  Piedmontese — that  the  country  does  not  afford  a  suffi- 
cient revenue  for  the  support  of  its  own  internal  administration. 
And  yet  by  the  force  of  position,  and  the  power  of  well  directed 
courage,  this  little  state  has  been  always  respectable,  very  ofien 
formidable ;  and  has  not  only  pushed  its  conquests  in  various  di- 
rections and  to  considerable  extent, — but  conquered  and  gave  to 
ihe  kingdom  of  Sardinia  the  very  dynasty  which  now  sits  upon 
iis  throne. 

Noihing  surprises  an  American  who  visits  varioys  countries  in 
Europe,  more  than  the  incessant  variations  in  language,  which 
i)e  encounters  every  where.  We  expect,  of  course,  when  we  get 
into  France  to  hear  French  ;  but  we  were  not  prepared  to  hear  a 
dozen  different  languages  spoken  under  this  one  name.  The 
ilialecls  of  the  German  are  equally  as  numerous  and  diverse  as 
those  of  the  French;  and  those  of  the  Italian,  if  not  so  abundant, 
are  more  radically  different  from  each  other.  In  Great  Britain 
also,  this  state  of  things  exists  to  so  great  an  extent,  that  I  found 
at  least  five  dialects  in  England  alone,  which  I  could  not  compre- 
iiend  at  all ;  or  only  with  great  and  painful  attention,  and  afier 
several  repetitions  of  each  phrase.  It  may  create  a  smile,  but  [ 
am  ready  to  risk  it  by  asserting,  that  there  is  a  decided  ditiereuce 
between  the  English  and  the  American  languages — as  spoken  by 
ihe  best  educated  people  in  both  countries  :  and  that  ours  is  the 
real  language  of  the  best  English  Literature.  Even  our  canr 
phrases  are_  often  to  be  found  in  their  best  writers ;  and  excite 


I 


FOREIGN    TRAVEL.  237 

ridicule  only  because  they  have  been  supplanted  by  a  hermaphro- 
dite race  in  their  native  land.  There  are  some  peculiariiies  of 
spoken  English,  which  are  universal  and  intolerable.  Thus  the 
final  d,  is  always  dropped  when  preceded  by  a  consonant.  No 
Englishman  ever  says  and,  or  haiid,  or  bound,  or  any  such  word ; 
but  in  the  most  grave  as  well  as  the  most  lamiliar  discourse,  he 
says  «?»,  han,  boun,  &c.  &c.  In  the  same  way  he  exterminates,  g ; 
when  he  means  being y  exceedingly,  comings  going,  &c.,  it  is  bein, 
exceedinly,  comin,  goin,  &c.  which  you  liear.  It  is  indeed  true 
that  all  who  read  comprehend  by  the  eye,  the  same  French, 
German  and  Italian,  as  well  as  the  same  English.  But  nothing 
exists  any  where  in  Europe,  like  the  wide,  copious,  common 
speech  of  universal  America;  and  by  consequence,  no  people  on 
earth  have  the  same  facilities  in  concentrating  a  common  and  ir- 
resistible sentiment,  and  in  diffusing  over  all  society,  every  spe- 
cies of  knowledge.  It  is  therefore  neither  vain  nor  doubtful  to 
assert — but  on  the  other  hand,  it  is  the  necessary  result  of  our 
position  and  opportunities,  that  America  as  to  its  native  popula- 
tion, is  at  this  moment  the  most  homogenious,  the  best  informed 
— and  in  proportion  to  its  power,  the  most  efficient  nation  on 
earth.  Let  them  laugh  at  us  who  like  ;  we  can  well  afford  it. 
It  is  reply  enough  to  say  we  all  understand  their  ridicule;  we 
may  defy  a  man  of  any  other  nation  to  utter  that,  good  or  bad, 
which  half  his  own  fellow  subjects  can  comprehend  without  a 
translator. 

There  is  no  part  of  Europe  probably  where  this  diversity  of 
the  same  language,  or  language  called  the  same,  exists  more  pro- 
fusely, than  in  that  part  of  the  Alps,  of  which  I  now  write. 
Possibly  this  should  be  expected  from  the  fact  that  the  same 
causes  which  have  produced  these  diversities  elsewhere,  as  con- 
quest, emigration,  and  the  lack  of  fixed  standards,  have  also  ex- 
isted here  ;  while  the  means  of  preserving  a  dialect  when  once 
fixed,  are  more  perfect  in  the  retired  valleys  and  fixed  habits  of 
those  who  dwell  in  them,  than  exist  in  the  more  accessihle  and 
versatile  people  of  the  plains.  I  am  slow,  however,  to  make  un- 
Becessary  deductions  on  such  a  subject,  when  I  remember  how 
considerable,  how  numerous,  and  how  fixed  were  the  diversities 


238 


MEMORANDA    OF 


exhibited  under  such  different  circumstances,  in  the  language  of 
the  little  tribes  of  Greece  ;  even  after  their  unrivalled  speech  had 
become  the  language  of  ppetry,  of  literature,  of  philosophy,  and 
even  of  science,  for  the  human  race. 

In  Savoy  the  lan-guage  of  educated  people  is  French ;  that  of 
the  people  generally  is  a  patois,  which  varies  not  only  in  the  sev- 
eral Cantons  or  large  divisions,  but  even  from  city  to  city,  and 
commune  to  commune.  When  I  call  this  a  patois  I  speak  only 
in  accordance  with  common  usage;  for  1  am  not  ready  to  deny,, 
but  that  some  or  all  of  the  multitudinous  dialects  found  in  these 
vallies,  may  be  as  copious,  as  rich,  and  as  precise  as  any  of  the 
languages  of  which  it  is  reputed  a  barbarous  compound.  That 
which  we  do  not  comprehend  is  barbarous  to  us  ;  but  it  becomes 
us  to  remember,  on  the  same  authority,  that  we  are  also  barba- 
rian to  it.  W^e  find  many  words  of  Latin,  many  of  French  and 
Italian  origin.  We  may  say,  it  is  a  speech  composed  of  these 
three ;  and  they  who  think  so,  need  not  be  surprised  that  a  dia- 
lect should  be  rude  and  irregular,  composed  out  of  others  Vv'hose 
structure  and  pronunciation  are  as  different  as  possibly  can  be,  in 
those  having  a  com.mon  origin.  Others  may  pass  through  all  to 
the  ancient  Celtic,  the  common  parent  perhaps,  and  thus  settle 
the  facts  of  resemblance  and  diversity  at  the  same  moment.  I 
will  observe,  however,  that  it  is  rather  singular  to  find  more  tra- 
ces of  the  Latin  language  in  some  of  these  dialects  than  even  in  the 
Italian  itself;  while  on  the  other  hand,  it  is  an  inexplicable  won- 
der that  the  latter  language  should  differ  from  what  we  call  its 
mother,  and  in  the  very  seat  of  her  power  and  glory,  in  some  of 
the  most  fundamental  characteristics  of  the  two,  indeed  of  all  lan- 
guages. Thus  the  Italian  is  exceedingly  rich  in  the  article,  and 
uses  it  more  than  any  language  living  or  dead ;  whereas^the  Lat- 
in had  no  article  at  all.  On  the  other  hand,  the  Latin  derived  a 
great  deal  of  its  copiousness  from  the  neuter  gender,  and  much 
of  its  precision  from  its  signs  of  the  accusative  case;  while  the 
Italian  has  neither  neuter  gender,  nor  any  sign  of  any  sort  to  in- 
dicate the  accusative  case.  I  confess  that  these  facts,  and  manv 
like  them,  make  me  incredulotis  in  receiving  the  accepted  theoricti 
on  these  interesting  topics. 


FOREIGN    TRAVEL.  539 

I  Venture  to  illustrate  a  little  the  state  of  the  Savoy  patois  by 
annexing  in  French,  and  in  three  dialects  of  the  patois,  the  11th 
and  12th  verses  of  the  Gospel  of  Luke— the  commencement  of 
ihe  parable  of  the  prodigal  son— which  M.  V'erneilh  has  publish- 
ed for  the  use  of  the  people  who  speak  them.  The  French  is  from 
the  version  of  David  Martin. 

Patois  of  the  arrondissement  of  Chamberry,  the  capital 
OF  Savoy — On  homo  aval  dues  ^iifans  dont  le  pe  joiano  desuit  a 
son  pare  :  pare  baillez  me  le  bin  que  de  daivo  pe  ma  part ;  et  i  Ion 
partadia  son  bin. 

Patois  of  the  high  valley  op  Tarentaisb,  in  the  arrond- 

ISSEMENT  of  MoJSTIERS,  UNDER  THE    PETIT    St.    BeRNARD — Owi 

kommo  avey  du  garcoun,  doun  le  pi  zouveno  diy  a  soun  pare  :  pa' 
re,  bailley  me  so  que  me  de  y  reveray  de  vaussoun  bin  ;  el  li  pare 
leu  fachy  lo  pactacho  de  soun  bin. 

Patois  of  the  village  of  Aiguebelle,  in  the  valley  and 

ARRONDIbSEMENT  OF  St.  JeAN-DE-MaURIENNE.  UNDER  MoNT  Ce- 

Nis — On  hommez  ayeve  dons  enfans,  dont  le  plus  zueno  a  del  a 
son  pare;  mon  pare,  baillez  ce  que  dai  me  revenir  de  voulion  bien; 
et  lepare  leur  fit,  le  partazo  de  son  bien. 

French  of  the  version  of  Martin-— U?i  homme  avail  deux 
Jils  ;  et  le  plus  jeune  dit  a  son  pere  ;  mon  pere,  donne  moi  le  part 
du  bien,  qui  m^appartient;  et  il  leur  partagea  ses  biens. 

The  reader  will  perceive  at  once,  the  resemblance  and  the  dif- 
lerence,  both  equally  striking — amongst  all  these  specimens — of 
what  goes  by  the  name  of  French,  If  the  same  principles  of 
pronunciation  held  in  each,  the  parties  could  hardly  understand 
each  other.  But  if  those  who  speak  the  patois  should  borrow 
■from  the  Latin  or  Italian,  the  single  and  simple  rule  of  pronounc- 
ing every  letter;  it  is  manifest  that  his  spoken  language  would 
become  at  once  chaos  to  every  Frenchman. 


240  MEMORANDA    O^ 


CHAPTER  XXV, 


physical  Aspect  of  Savoy,  and  of  the  Alpine  Ranges— Notices  of  their  Geneial 
Structure— Route  Constructed  by  Napoleon— Mont  Cenis— Change  in  our  Mode 
of  Travelling— Italian  Voituries— European  Servants— Their  Condition  compared 
with  that  of  Household  Slaves  in  America. 


Savoy  lies  principally  between  the  45°  and  46*^  degrees  of 
north  latitude.  Its  figure  is  irregular,  but  its  greatest  length  and 
breadth  are  each  not  far  from  a  hundred  miles.  Its  most  remark- 
able physical  peculiarity,  is  undoubtedly  its  numerous  and  gigan- 
tic mountains;  which  cover  nine-tenths  of  its  territory,  and  ex- 
hibit an  aspect  every  where  vast,  often  severe  and  terrible.  Its 
frontier  on  the  side  of  Piedmont  is  on  the  very  top  of  the  Alps, 
cutting  the  grand  and  petit  St.  Bernard  and  the  Mont  Cenis. 
The  chain  of  the  Alps  has  every  where  this  peculiarity — that  of 
its  numerous  ranges,  the  most  south-easterly  ridge  is  always  the 
main  one.  On  that  side,  you  descend  one  single  long  slope,  and 
find  yourself  in  fertile  and  level  plains.  On  the  upper  or  north- 
western side,  the  descent  is  rapid  and  deep.  After  a  narrow 
ravine  a  long  slope  brings  you  to  the  top  of  a  second  ridge  par- 
allel in  its  general  course  with  the  first,  and  less  lofty ;  from  which 
by  an  abrupt  descent,  you  reach  a  valley  wider  than  the  first. 
And  thus  range  succeeds  range,  until  descending  from  the  last, 
you  rest  upon  the  high  table  lands  of  Germany,  Switzerland,  or 
France.  This  is  my  own  opinion,  1  believe  I  may  say  perfect 
assurance  on  the  subject;  after  having  traversed  these  mountains 
on  one  side  and  the  other,  from  the  lake  of  Constance  to  the 
Mediterranean  sea,  and  turned  their  entire  southern  base  from 


I 


FOREIGN   TRAVEL.  241 

Nice  to  Marseille.  I  ouorht  to  state,  however,  that  the  prevail- 
ing opinion  is  opposite  to  this.  De  Sassure  first  stated,  and  fifty 
have  repeated  after  him,  that  the  valUes  on  the  Italiin  side  are 
shorter  than  those  on  the  other;  from  which  it  is  concluded  the 
descent  on  that  side  must  necessarily  be  more  abrupt  than  on 
the  other.  But  the  vallies  on  the  northern  side  are  longer  be- 
<;ause  they  penetrate  various  separate  ranges,  or  run  between 
two  parallel  ranges;  and  not  at  all  because — any  one  particular 
range  is  more  abrupt  on  the  south-east  than  on  the  north-west 
side.  The  reverse  is  uniformly  the  case,  wherever  I  have  had 
an  opportunity  to  examine  their  structure  ;  which  corresponds  in 
this  respect  with  that  of  the  great  chain  of  the  Alleghanies,  in 
-the  United  States. 

These  mountain  ranges  so  far  as  Savoy  is  •concerned,  droop 
successively  from  the  grand  eastern  chain,  to  the  banks  of  the 
Rhone,  which  is  the  common  receptacle  of  their  waters:  a 
declension  from  15,000  feet  which  is  the  elevation  of  Mont 
Blanc,  to  a  few  hundred  only  on  the  shores  of  theRlione.  This 
mass  of  mountains  changes  its  elements  as  it  changes  its  eleva- 
tion. The  loftiest  of  them  are  composed  of  granite  ;  the  lowest 
of  a  sort  of  primitive  calcarious  rock.  The  intermediate  moun- 
tains are  composed  of  gneiss,  or  of  rock  composed  of  quartz  and 
fliica.  Amongst  these,  are  to  be  found  detached  mountains  of 
black  marble,  with  veins  of  white  ;  of  porphery;  of  calcarious, 
primitive  or  secondary,  mixed  with  gneiss.  Many  of  them  are 
absolutely  barren,  presenting  nothing  but  naked  rock  covered 
at  intervals  with  gravel,  or  the  mouldering  fragments  of  rock 
detached  and  pulverized  by  the  action  of  the  elements.  Others 
are  adorned  with  scattered  trees,  and  covered  with  a  dwarf  under- 
growth ;  and  many  are  covered  with  the  evidences  of  human 
industry  and  skill — narrow  terraces  rising  above  each  other,  up 
to  the  highest  point  to  which  the  culture  of  grain,  vines  or  escu- 
lent roots  can  be  pushed.  How  should  the  sluggards  upon  the 
fertile  plains  of  the  earth  blush  to  see  these  patient  and  laborious 
mountaineers — first  create  their  fields,  after  vast  efforts,  and  then 
cheerfully  till  them,  for  their  uncertain  and  scanty  production. 
He  that  openeth  his  hand  and  satisfieth  every  living  tiling, 
Vol.  II.— 22 


S42  MfiMORANBA   Of 

knows  best  the  necessities  of  his  creatures,  and  blessed  be  his 
name,  provides  for  thenn  all. 

It  has  been  asserted  by  M,  De  la  Lande,  that  he  made  the 
discovery  that  the  masses  of  rock  of  which  these  nnountains  are 
composed,  have  such  a  relation  to  each  other  that  the  salient  and 
retreating  angles  correspond  at  the  bottom  of  the  vallies.  If  we 
suppose  their  lines  of  inclination  to  bisect  each  other,  the  oppo-- 
site  angles  of  necessity  must  be  equal.  But  this  would  be  hardly 
a  discovery  in  our  days,  if  it  were  true :  but  the  fact  has  no 
foundation,  though  it  has  been  a  hundred  times  repeated.  The 
strata  of  all  the  Alpine  chains  are  utterly  irregular.  Some  are 
horizontal,  some  vertical,  others  inclined  at  every  angle  and  in 
every  direction.  Some  of  the  layers  are  curvilinear,  with  the 
exterior  of  the  curve  up  ;  others  with  it  down.  Sometimes  the 
layers  are  exhibited  on  the  face  of  a  mountain  precisely  like  the 
undulations  of  a  serpent ;  at  others  upon  the  point  of  a  hill,  in 
ridges  strongly  resembling  the  half  of  a  series  of  pointed  gothic 
arches.  Frequently  a  whole  mountain  seems  as  if  it  were  com-^ 
posed  of  a  single  mass ;  and  again,  aggregations  of  small  flint, 
or  walls  of  basalt,  look  rather  like  the  work  of  the  mason,  than 
of  nature.  This  infinite  varielv,  at  tirst  confounds,  and  then 
delights  the  eye  and  the  imagination,  at  every  step  in  these  vast 
ranges  of  mountains.  I  observed  on  this  subject  but  a  single 
principle  which  approached  to  regularity.  I  do  not  remember 
ever  to  have  seen  a  mountain  of  somewhat  regular  structure,  in 
which  the  inclination  of  the  outer  edges  of  the  strata  was  dowt)«> 
wards.  If  you  look  at  a  mountain,  its  general  aspect  gives  the 
idea  of  its  having  been  projected  upwards;  and  its  shape 
uniformly  tapering  upwards  confirms  this  idea.  But  if  you 
examine  the  strata,  they  give  you  just  the  opposite  notion  ;  they 
look  as  ii'  the  centre  of  the  mountain  had  fallen  in,  and  thut* 
forced  upwards  the  outer  edges  of  its  strata.  Some  of  the 
learned  tell  us,  all  these  phenomena  are  to  be  explained  by  the 
action  of  an  intense  heat ;  others  attribute  every  thing  to  the 
opposite  element  of  water.  1  leave  the  learned  to  settle  it. 
But  on  the  one  hand,  the  fact  that  all  these  mountains  have 
been  covered  with  the  waters  of  the  sea,  is  just  as  incontestible 


FOREIGN    TRAVEL.  '  243 

as  that  some  one  must  have  been  where  we  fmd  not  only  his 
tracks  but  his  shoes ;  for  the  traces  of  marine  shells  are  found 
every  where  upon  their  summits,  and  in  their  deepest  recesses. 
And  on  the  other  hand,  there  are  ten  thousand  objects  which 
you  seem  to  refer  as  inevitably  to  the  action  of  heat,  as  you 
would  t[ie  lijct  that  your  dinner  was  over-done.  One  point  is  of 
l^reat  importance;  let  us  remember  that  tiie  science  of  Geology 
is  yet  in  swaddling  clothes ;  and  that  it  will  be  full  soon,  when 
Its  principles  and  truths  are  somewhat  settled,  to  make  a  wax 
nose  for  its  benefit,  oui  of  the  Hebrew  language  and  the  Mosaic 
cosmogony.  It  is  hardly  worth  while  for  so  called  scholars  and 
divines  to  unsettle  what  God  has  established  ;  till  they  are  quite 
sure  of  the  end  for  which  it  is  to  be  done,  and  the  principles  on 
which  the  change  is  required. 

The  great  liigh-way  leading  through  the  region  of  which  I  now 
speak,  is  one  of  the  best  in  Europe.  Five  or  six  days'  easy  travel 
are  sufficient  to  accomplish  the  journey  from  Geneva  to  Turin, — 
passing  by  Aix,  Chamberry,  up  the  valle^y  of  St,  Jean  de  Mauri- 
enne,  and  over  Mont  Cenis.  The  distance  is  probably  two 
hundred  English  miles,  or  somewhat  more  ;  and  in  the  whole  of 
it,  great  and  constant  as  the  natural  obstacles  to  be  overcome  in 
forming  the  road  were — there  is  not  a  spot  where  the  voyager 
need  dismount  fVom  his  carriage,  and  verv  i'ew  where  it  is  neces- 
sary to  lock  the  wheels  of  it.  Like  the  route  over  the  Semplon, 
this  also,  is  the  work  of  Napoleon  :  conceived^  projected,  and  as 
to  its  difficulties  finished  by  him.  The  kings  of  Sardinia  have 
not  disdained  to  identify  their  names  with  portions  of  the  work 
the  least  important;  while  they  have  suppressed  that  of  the 
superlative  genius  to  whom  it  is  all  due.  At  Aiguebe'le  there  is 
an  enormous  triumphal  arch  spanning  the  route,  adorned  on  both 
faces  with  pompous  inscriptions,  to  their  "great  and  gracious 
monarch  " — for  having  made  a  wall  and  road,  at  one  end  of  their 
hamlet.  I  thought  as  I  read  it,  of  the  boy  who  was  so  ravished 
with  the  praises  he  heard  bestowed  on  Dr.  Johnson,  a  volume 
i>f  whose  works  he  held  in  his  hand,  that  he  exclaimed  witii 
.enthusiasm,  "  I  made  the  paste  that  bound  that  book  !"  And 
this  is  just  about  the  relation  of  King  Charles  Felix,  or  King 


244  MEMORANDA    OF 

Emanuel  Charles,  or  King  Charles  Albert,  or  all  put  together, 
for  I  forget  which  was  named  on  the  arch,  to  him,  under  whose 
great  works  they  would  insinuate  their  little  shoulders. 

The  pass  over  Mont  Cenis,  is  the  most  southerly  of  all  the 
great  routes  that  penetrate  the  Alps.  For  this  reason,  amongst 
others,  as  the  season  was  advanced — I  was  well  content  to  enter 
Italy  by  it.  But  in  addition,  it  is  the  only  gootl  road  over  the 
Alps,  by  which  Italy  can  be  entered  from  the  north,  without 
passincr  through  a  part  of  the  Lombard-Venetian  kingdom; 
which  I  was  anxious  to  avoid,  as  the  cholera  still  prevailed  at 
Milan,  and  the  quarantine  regulations  as  you  penetrated  farther 
towards  the  states  of  the  church,  became  more  rigid,  if  you  had 
been  in  any  part  of  ihat  kingdom. 

A  material  change  took  place  in  our  mode  of  travelling  at  the 
same  lime.  A  female  acquaintance  who  had  made  one  of  our 
party  from  the  time  we  left  the  United  States,  concluded  to 
remain  at  Geneva.  I  determined  at  the  same  time  to  dismiss' 
our  courier.  He  who  travels  through  a  country  of  wliose  lan- 
guage he  is  ignorant,  especially  if  jje  has  dependent  on  him 
several  other  persons  more  helpless  than  hiniseif,  will  find  it 
almost  indispensable  to  have  an  interpreter.  If  he  desires  to  i  e 
somewhat  at  leisure,  so  that  his  time  may  be  employed  with 
reference  to  his  own  increase  in  knowledge  ;  it  is  nearly  as  indis- 
pensable to  have  a  servant  to  perform  the  ten  thousand  nameless 
offices,  which  the  mere  fact  of  four  or  five  people  being  of  one 
party  creates.  And  yet  the  class  of  persons  who  engage  a& 
couriers,  in  Europe,  is  w^orthy  of  all  distrust.  Finding  our 
party  reduced  to  two,  and  an  infant,  whose  nurse  making  the 
third  person,  spoke  German  and  French ;  we  possessed  as 
many  languages  as  people  who  could  speak  in  company — 
even  without  computing  our  own  pretensions  as  extending* 
much  beyond  our  vernacular  English.  We  therefore,  threw 
ourselves  upon  our  resources; — and  having  hired  an  Italian 
voiturier  to  take  us  to  Turin  in  five  days  and  a  half,  in  his 
own  carriage,  and  with  his  own  horses ;  we  took  up  the  line 
of  march,  not  without  some  misgivings,  as  to.  our  ability  t<> 
make  good  our  course. 


FOREIGN   TRAVEL.  245 

There  is  no  class  of  persons  more  completely  under  the  ban. 
r>C  public  opinion  than  these  voituriers.  I  am  happy  and  at  the 
same  time  bound,  to  testify  in  their  behalf  I  have  had  at  differ- 
ent times  near  a  dozen  in  my  service  ;  and  I  have  never  had  one 
who  did  not  fully  and  liiirly  perform  all  he  undertook,  and  gen- 
erally in  a  manner  obligincr,  respectful,  and  to  my  entire  satis- 
faction. They  speak,  nearly  wrilhout  exception,  two  languages  ; 
if  they  be  Swiss,  they  speak  generally  French  and  German  ;  if 
Italians  or  French,  both  those  languages.  For  a  roomy  car- 
riage, and  two  or  three  good  horses,  you  pay  from  twenty  to 
thirty  francs,  or  an  average  of  about  five  dollars  a  day.  They 
bear  their  own  expenses,  pay  for  extra  horses  and  guides  when 
necessary  in  the  mountains,  and  carry  you  about  thirty-five  or 
forty  English  miles  a  day.  The  voilurier  expects,  at  the  end 
of  the  journey,  an  additional  douceur  to  himself;  the  amount  of 
which  is  left  entirely  to  yourself,  but  by  contract  and  by  universal 
custom — something  must  be  given.  Generally  from  three  to 
five  francs  a  day,  never  more  than  the  latter — very  rarely  so 
!  ttie  as  the  former  sum  is  expected  and  given.  Where  the 
driver  does  not  own  the  carriage-  and  horses,  this  is  his  only 
compensation.  He  gets  his  meals  at  the  hotels  gratis,  for  bring- 
ing his  passengers  to  them.  And  both  in  French  and  German  he 
cails  the  douceur  given  to  him,  by  a  name  too  indicative  of  his 
habits.  Pour  hoire  :  for  drink:  is  the  universal  French  name, 
i'or  such  and  similar  gratuities:  as  in  German  trink  Jeld ;  drink 
money.  The  Italian  calls  it  buona  mano :  good  will:  or  good  hand; 
as  indicative,  I  fear,  of  *'  the  itching  palm"  of  Italy,  as  the  for- 
mer names  are  of  the  French  and  German  propensities  respec- 
tively to  wine  and  strong  drink. 

As  soon  as  it  was  known  in  the  hotel  of  the  Crown  at  which 
we  lodged  in  Geneva,  that  I  had  discharged  my  courier,  a  fact 
which  he  had  kept  secret  until  the  carriage  was  at  the  door 
to  carry  us  away;  it  seemed  as  if  the  house  were  full  of  persona 
seeking  the  same  or  any  situation.  I  had  in  quick  succession 
five  or  six  applications  made  for  the  vacant  place;  and  could 
apparently  have  enlisted  a  company  of  domestics  in  one  forenoon. 
Servants  of  all  kinds  in  all  parts  of  Europe  are  generally  excel- 
22* 


246 


MEMORANDA    OF 


lent: — faitliful,  laborious,  and  humble  to  a  degree  that  greatly 
surprised  me.  It  startled  me  at  fir^t  to  hear  persons  better 
dressed  than  myself,  call  me  master.  But  the  servility  of  domes- 
tics  in  all  parts  of  Europe  is  much  greater  than  that  of  the 
slaves  of  the  United  States,  who  occupy  situations  about  the 
persons  of  their  masters  :  and  the  indignities  to  which  they  sub- 
mit, if  not  so  severe,  are  often  as  humiliating.  At  the  Hotel  des 
Emperours  at  Marseille,  I  heard  on  one  occasion  a  terrible  uproar 
under  my  windows  ;  and  on  demanding  the  cause  of  the  hostesses 
passion,  some  hours  after,  from  the  man  who  served  our  dinner, 
he  said  his  mistress  was  angry  at  him  because  he  had  neglected 
to  lock  a  chamber  door  the  preceding  night,  in  consequence  of 
which  one  of  his  fellow-servants  had  slept  in  a  bed  and  been 
discovered  ;:  for  which  "  mistress  had  scolded  him,  and  boxed 
the  ears  of  both  !"  The  domestics  in  the  public  houses  generally, 
receive  no  compensation  whatever  from  their  employers,  except 
their  food  ;  and  very  often  pay  considerable  sums  for  their  situ- 
ations. In  most  hotels  on  the  continent,  there  are  no  females  at 
all :  men  performing  for  the  precarious  gifts  of  travellers,  offices 
which  in  America  men  could  not  be  hired,  and  would  not  be 
permitted  to  perform.  Or  if  females  are  obliged  to  be  employed 
in  a  ihw  services,  they  submit  to  inrpositions  which  in  turn  they 
force  travellers  to  bear.  Thus,  washer-women,  who  are  amongst 
the  severest  afflictions  of  such  travellers  in  Europe  as  consider 
clean  linen  a  necessary  of  life ;  generally  perform  gratuitously 
the  washing  of  the  largest  hotels,  for  the  privilege  of  washing 
for  the  lodgers  in  it.  The  masters  of  these  hotels  are  the  most 
difficult  to  be  classed.  I  have  in  some,  seen  the  master  of  a  very 
large  establishment  do  the  principal  service  in  its  eating  depart- 
ment, as  head  cwjk.  And  I  have  known  others  reside  in  their 
town  or  country  houses,  and  hire  an  agent  to  manage  their 
hotels.  One  of  the  most  extensive  hotels  on  the  continent  of 
Europe,  the  Hotel  Meurice,  in  Paris,  is  owned  and  personally 
managed  by  a  female ;  another,  the  Hotel  Des  Bergues  at  Ge- 
neva, belongs  to  a  company,  and  is  managed  by  the  head  waiter, 
fn  general  I  think  it  may  with  truth  be  said,  that  the  European? 
servants  have  a  far  harder  life  in  most  respects  than  the  house- 


FOREIGN   TRAVEL. 


247 


hold  slaves  of  the  United  States ;  and  that  fewer  instances  are 
found  where  they  have  affection  for  their  masters,  or  iheir  mas- 
ters for  them,  than  amongst  our  slaves  and  their  owners.  On 
the  other  hand,  I  am  convinced,  that  rhe  owners  of  slaves  are 
Worse  served,  and  at  a  treble  cost.  I  draw  two  inferences 
which  a  thousand  facts  have  proven  to  me  in  Europe.  The  first 
is,  that  the  friends  of  slave  emancipation  in  the  United  States, 
are  mistaken — greatly  mistaken^  as  to  the  relative  physical  con- 
dition of  the  slaves  as  compared  with  the  correspond in-g  labour- 
ing classes  of  the  best  countries  of  Europe  ;  and  therefore  they 
misdirect  a  great  portion  of  their  arguments  and  efforts  on  this 
interesting  subject.  The  second  is,  that  the  great  majority  of 
the  slave  owners  of  our  country  are  equally  mistaken,  in  sup- 
posing that  either  their  interests  or  comforts  would  be  in  the 
least  diminished  ;  or  rather  that  both  would  not  be  greatly  pro- 
moted by  a  change  which  would  deliver  them  from  the  cares, 
responsibilities,  and  changes  of  their  present  condition;  and 
convert  the  reluctant,  cosily,  and  wasteful  service  of  their  slaves 
into  the  cheap,  anxious,  and  efficient  labour  of  responsible  serv- 
vants.  I  am  aware  that  the  present  excessive  value  of  slave 
labour  in  a  Cew  branches  of  industry,  and  the  extraordinary 
condition  of  society  in  the  free  states,  which  by  reason  of  its 
long  continued  prosperity,  fills  every  working  man's  pocket  with 
money,  and  makes  those  who  would  in  ordinary  circumstances 
he  at  service,  now  require  servants  ;  these  different  and  transient 
conditions  may  make  all  incredulous  of  what  I  have  asserted 
*:Rd  argued.     Let  them  visit  Europe,  and  be  cured. 


248 


MEMORANDA    OF 


CHAPTER  XXVI 


First  Attempt  at  Travelling  without  our  Interpreter— Fair  at  Frangy— Aix,  its  Batkr 
and  Valley— Charaberry— The  Vale  of  the  Isere ;  and  of  St.  Jean-de-Maurienne— 
— The  Gorges  of  the  Alps — Fortress  of  Bramont. 


V  ERY  soon  after  commencing  the  journey  from  Switzerland 
into  Italy,  full  opportunity  was  afforded  us  to  test  our  compe- 
tence in  making  good  our  way,  amid  strange  tongues.  Leaving 
(Jeneva  at  mid-day,  we  had  passed  the  frontier  of  ihe  confeder- 
ation "within  an  Iwur;  and  arrived  after  night-fall  at  the  little  vil- 
l;ige  of  Frangy,  which  we  found  filled  to  repletion.  The  cus- 
tx)m  of  the  country,  fortified  by  ancient  baronial  grants,  gives  to 
linost  of  the  towns  and  villages  periodical  fairs ;  which  occur  once, 
^wice,  and  sometimes  oftener  every  year.  On  these  occasions 
religious  services  usher  in  the  day — and  then  follow  trading, 
buying  and  selling  of  every  article  that  the  region  furnishes  or 
requires — and  the  day  closes  with  all  kinds  of  merriment.  We 
fell  upon  Frangy  the  night  before  its  annual  fair :  and  to  our  dis- 
comfiture, found  the  only  Inn  in  the  place  occupied  from  the 
cellar  to  the  garret ;  all  the  rooms  in  the  village  that  could  be 
hired,  full ;  and  the  very  streets  garnished  with  wagons,  tents, 
tables  and  crowds  of  people,  who  seemed  to  wish  no  better  ac- 
commodation than  a  nicrht  ol' watching.  The  next  Inn  was  two 
or  three  hours  drive  distant;  half  of  our  party  were  invalids;: 
and  the  voiturier  expressed  the  wish  to  refresh  his  iiorses  before 
attempting  to  proceed.    I  carried  the  case  a  point  further,  by 


FOREIGN    TRAVEL.  249 

refusing  to  think  of  going  any  Hirther,  and  dismounting  with  all 
hands  from  tt)e  carriage. 

We  were  marshalled  into  the  front  room,  on  the  first  floor  of 
the  Inn,  which  proved  to  be  the  kitchen  :  and  a  kitchen  better 
filled  either  with  people  or  viands,  I  have  seldom  seen.  The 
evening  was  a  clear  frosty  October  one;  and  the  two  great  fires 
blazing  up  chimnies  which  occupied  one  entire  side  of  the  room, 
were  delightful.  This,  however,  gives  no  idea  of  the  structure 
of  the  chimnies,  common  except  in  the  best  houses,  on  the  con- 
tinent. At  the  floor  there  is  merely  a  hearth;  but  about  eight 
feet  from  the  floor,  resting  on  what  might  be  the  floor  of  the  room 
above,  commences  a  square  funnel  with  the  mouth  down,  and  of 
immense  dimensions  ;  which,  tapering  upwards  to  a  narrow  hole, 
lets  the  smoke  escape  above  the  roof  of  the  house.  Before  these 
two  fires  were  birds  of  all  sizes,  from  the  turkey  and  goose  to  lit- 
tle ones  that  would  mock  a  hungry  man,  if  he  were  to  put  them 
entire  into  his  mouth.  Spiked  on  long  irons  in  rows,  they  were 
turned  by  a  machine  that  reminded  me  of  a  yankee  clock,  nailed 
to  the  wall  between  the  two  furnaces.  The  solemn  and  measur- 
ed pace  of  the  machine  and  birds,  presented  so  strong  a  contrast 
to  the  proceedings  of  the  people  about  me — who  seemed  in 
activity  an  impersonation  of  what  the  solar  microscope  reveals  to 
us  of  the  manners  of  the  dwellers  in  a  drop  of  diich  water; — that 
I  could  with  difficulty  suppress  a  hearty  laugh.  All  spoke  at 
once — and  all  with  an  energy  that  seemed  to  say,  the  universe 
must  perish  if  what  they  had  to  say  were  not  instantly  heard. — 
All  were  in  motion,  and  all  as  it  seemed  in  opposite  directions 
and  for  opposing  purposes  ;  and  yet  all  without  result  of  any  kind 
except  the  ceaseless  renewal  of  the  uproar.  A  promiscuous 
crowd  of  French  men  and  women,  no  matter  whf>  they  are  or 
why  assembled,  so  that  imperious  decorum  does  not  force  them 
to  be  still  and  quiet;  is  one  of  the  most  astonishing  objects  that 
John  Bull  or  Jonathan  can  behold.  The  former  gentleman  it 
fills  with  sullen  contempt;  the  latter  with  irresistible  mirth. — 
True  to  the  national  impulse,  I  was  hardly  enabled  by  a  fast  of 
eleven  hours,  and  the  present  prospect  of  a  night  in  the  streets 
with  my  Utile  liimily,  to  preserve  a  decent  composure. 


250  MEMORANDA  OF 

The  people  of  the  Inn  were  as  kind  as  they  could  be  ;  and 
how  many  of  the  multitude  who  proffered  their  services  belong- 
ed to  ihe  household  is  not  ibr  me  to  (juess.  Here,  as  on  many 
other  occasions,  I  have  Ibund  poUteness  and  kindness  of  heart, 
qualities  common  to  the  French  of  every  condition  and  country. 
After  a  most  noisy  and  protracted  consultation,  in  which  from 
first  to  last  at  leat^tti  hundred  counsellors  put  in  a  word,  it  was  de- 
tinilively  settled  that  we  should,  in  the  first  place,  have  seats  at 
the  fire;  secondly,  that  we  siiould  be  speedily  furnished  wiin 
some  of  the  biidrs  fur  supper;  and  finally,  that  a  special  appeal 
should  be  made  to  the  Cliateau^  whose  proprietor  was  distantly 
related  to  the  master  of  the  hotel,  for  a  night's  lodging  for  us  uji- 
der  his  roof.  This  mission  fully  succeeded,  and  we  were  mar- 
shalled to  the  Chateau  with  great  form.  I  shall  preserve  a  grate- 
ful recollection  as  long  as  I  live,  of  the  family  of  M.  Felice,  for 
the  use  of  two  beds  one  night,  for  which  1  paid  five  francs  next 
morning  in  the  bill  of  his  kinsman  at  the  inn  ;  and  shall  be  most 
happy  to  return  the  favour,  (for  it  really  was  one,)  free  of  charge- 
to  him  or  ins.  But  I  trust  it  is  not  against  his  own  inclinations  to 
wisli,  that  he  may  speedily  inherit  another  Chateau  ;  and  if  this 
wisli  be  fulfilled,  ihat  his  new  one  may,  amidst  its  various  im- 
provements, have  an  entrance  to  it,  which  does  not  pass  through 
the  stable :  and  that  the  family  apartments  and  those  appro- 
priated to  his  bestial,  may  be  distinct  in  fact  as  well  as  in  name. 

As  we  left  the  village  early  the  following  morning,  ihe  place 
was  all  life,  and  a  high  day  dawning  upon  Frangy.  Why  should 
we  smile  at  ihe  humble  and  obscure?  Why  is  not  the  greatest 
man  of  Frangy,  as  great  as  the  greatest  man  of  Paris  ;  and  the 
incidents  that  mark  its  years  as  important  as  those  which  con- 
vulse the  great  capitals  of  the  earth  ^  The  crowds  who  lineil 
all  the  avenues  to  the  village  were  laden,  it  is  true,  with  humble 
things.  One  led  a  goat  by  a  willow  twig  around  its  neck — 
another  drove  before  him  a  large  black  hog  of  the  peculiar  race 
ol"  the  country.  Here  were  a  iaw  sheep  ;  there  a  cow,  or  calf; 
and  beyond  a  handful  of  coarse  thread,  or  a  web  of  coarser 
cloth.  For  miles  we  met  a  stream  of  people,  and  from  iiv^ry 
elevation  could  see  other  lines  in  the  neighbouring  roads  hasten- 


rORElGN   TRAVEL.  S5I 

m^  lo  Ihe  long  desired  mart.  How  many  wiblies  to  be  frralified  ; 
how  many  more,  alas  !  to  be  disappointed.  The  subject  of  long 
hope  and  anxious  preparation,  it  is  come  at  last.  And  hanily 
realized,  it  is  gone  to  return  no  more,  but  to  be  supplanted  by 
Dther  objects  as  greedily  desired,  as  transient,  as  unsatisfying,  as 
soon  forgotten.  While  we  smile  at  these  simple  villagers,  and 
humble  peasants,  It-t  us  remember  they  furnish  us  wilh  a  picture 
of  ourselves,  but  loo  true  ;  except  perhaps^,  that  their  objects  of 
interest  and  pursuit  are  more  reasonable,  more  innocent,  more 
attainable  than  our  own. 

The  most  usual  route  from  Geneva  to  Chamberry,  is  that  by 
Annecy  ;  to  the  left  of  the  one  we  pursued.  They  unite  before 
reaching  the  village  of  Aix,  a  mean  little  place  distinguished  for 
its  delicious  warm  baths,  and  hardly  less  by  the  disputes  of  the 
idle  learned,  over  some  questionable  and  insignificant  monuments 
found  in  and  near  it»  Its  local  situation  is  delightful,  and  the 
surrounding  region  extremely  beautiful.  The  small  valley  at  the 
eastern  end  of  which  it  is  seated,  at  the  foot  of  the  chain  of 
Beauges  mountains,  is  as  romantic  and  almost  as  secluded  as  the 
abode  of  Rasselas.  Besides  the  Beauges  on  the  cast,  Moiit-du- 
Chat  and  MontPEpine  on  the  opposite  border,  and  the  moun- 
tains of  Cliambotte  and  Saint  Innocent  on  the  north,  shut  up 
ihe  beautiful  basin  on  three  sides ;  and  on  the  fourth,  the  small, 
deep  lake  of  Bourget  reposes  in  a  profound  stillness,  which  seems 
to  communicate  itself  to  every  surrounding  object.  The  cooN 
ness,  the  retirement,  the  beauty,  and  the  hot  mineral  baths, 
attract,  during  the  warm  months,  numerous  visitors  to  Aix.  I 
found  the  place  deserted,  except  by  a  Cew  invalids,  who  seemed 
to  linger  in  mere  disgust  at  the  effort  necessary  lo  depart ;  or  in 
ti.e  faint  hope  of  some  lingering  chance,  that  the  deep  roots  of 
disease  might  be  extracted,  or  the  failing  spi  in^-s  t)f  life  replen- 
ished. I  wonder  rather  that  the  healed  should  so  soon  forget 
the  spot  consecrated  by  blessings  received,  and  sorrows  miti- 
gated;  and  that  the  last  to  linger  about  stich  abodes,  are  not 
rather  the  grateful,  than  the  importunate.  How  strong  is  the 
contrast  between  the  spirit  in  which  we  seek,  and  that  in  which 
we  use  the  blessings  of  heaven  I 


252  MEMORANDA    OF 

The  tvaters   are  used  both   for  bathing  and  drinking;   the 
principal  ingredient  being  su!phur,  and  the  liighest  temperature 
about  34^  to  ST^of  Raumer.      The    volume  of  water  is  very 
ample,  and    all    the    arrangements   for   its  use  convenient  and 
extensive.     Victor  Amedius  III.,  considered  himself  entitled  by 
reason  of  some  plain  and  simple  improvements  constructed  in 
1772,  to  set  upon  the  facade,  a  nonsensical  inscription  calling 
himself  "  Rex,  Pius,  Felix,  ^^ugustus" — and  I  know  not  what 
besides.     I  entered  the  edifice  under  the  impression  of  this  stuff; 
and  nearly  the  first  words  that  met  my  eyes,  were  "  the  hath  of 
Princes'' — written  in  French,  over  one  of  the  doors !     Ah  !  in- 
deed !  "  How  Sir,"  demanded  I,  turning  to  the  conductor,  "  how 
Sir  can  you  tell  a  prince,  when  he  is  naked  ?"  "  Monsieur?"  was 
his  reply — not,  perhaps,  comprehending  me.     "  You  have  a  bath 
here  appropriated  to  princes?"     "Yes."     "Do  you  not  know 
that  all  men  are  equally  princes,  as  soon  as  they  are  stripped  ?"" 
"  No  Monsieur,"     "Then  examine  and  you  will  find  it  so.     The 
only  difference  between  your  princes  and  the  servants  that  wait 
for  them  at  this  door,  is  annihilated  the  moment  they  undress. 
Change  their  clothes;  and  you  change  the  men,  nine  times  in 
ten."    He  seemed  uncertain,  whether  1  jested,  or  was  deranged. 
And  I  was  not  less  at  a  loss  to  account  for  ihe  folly  of  those  who 
in  their  vanity,  had  placed  their  insignificance  so  strongly  before 
vulgar  eyes. 

We  entered  Chamberry  in  the  afternoon,  and  left  it  early  the 
following  morning,  ll  is  a  considerable  town,  and  its  situation 
in  the  midst  of  a  narrow  plain,  bordered  by  lofty  mountains  and 
watered  by  two  streams,  is  very  handsome.  The  city  itself  U 
dark  and  melancholy;  full  of  soldiers  and  priests. 

The  morning  we  left  it,  we  took  our  last  look  at  Mont  Blanc 
— from  the  elevated  plains  that  separate  the  waters  of  the  Isere 
from  those  of  the  rivulets  that  water  the  valley  of  Chamberry. 
From  Genev^a  to  Chamberry — the  views  of  the  Alps  are  often 
vsuperb,  Irom  the  tops  and  sides  of  the  eminences  along  which 
the  way  is  conducted.  But  very  soon  alter  leaving  the  last 
named  city  you  get  amongst  the  gorges  of  the  mountains — and 
from  thence  until  you  have  cleared  the  Alps,  and  are  fairly  in 


FOREIGN   TRAVEL.  253 

the  plains  of  Piedmont  on  the  other  side,  the  horizon  is  limited 
to  the  steep  rocks  on  either  hand,  and  the  flanks  of  mountains 
you  have  just  turned,  or  are  about  to  scale.  From  Chambery, 
you  pass  directly  to  the  river  Isere,  which  drains  the  great  arc 
of  the  Alps  between  the  Little  St.  Bernard  and  Mont  Cenis,  and 
passing  Grenoble  empties  itself  into  the  Rhone  at  Valence  in 
France.  This  arc  shuts  you  in  more  and  more  as  you  approach 
its  southern  limb.  Crossing  the  Isere  at  Mont  Melian,  two 
vallies  lie  before  you  as  you  ascend  ;  each  drained  by  a  fork  of 
the  river.  That  to  your  left  is  the  Tarentaise,  which  would 
conduct  you  to  the  pass  over  the  Little  St.  Bernard.  The  one 
to  the  right  ascends  the  course  of  the  Arche,  and  terminates 
under  Mont  Cenis :  it  is  called  the  valley  of  Saint  Jean-de-Mau- 
rienne,  and  is  the  one  which  we  traversed. 

This  valley,  counting  from  Mont  Melian  on  the  Isere,  to  Lans- 
le-Bourg,  at  the  foot  of  Cenis,  exceeds  a  hundred  miles  in  length. 
It  is  every  where  very  narrow,  and  has  on  both  sides  immense 
mountains,  which  towards  the  upper  end  are  full  of  glaciers  and 
covered  with  snow  nine  or  ten  months  of  the  year  :  the  loftiest 
summits  being  at  no  time  free  from  it.  In  the  midst  of  the 
valley,  rushes  the  rapid  and  turbulent  current  of  the  Arche — 
occupying  by  its  wide  stony  bed,  and  the  cold  marshes  on  its 
borders,  from  one-half  to  four-fifths  of  the  space  between  the 
bases  of  the  mountains.  Throughout  almost  the  entire  course 
of  this  long  gorge,  the  road  is  supported  on  a  wall,  built  in  the 
edge  of  the  river,  on  one  side  or  the  other:  and  crosses  the 
stream  a  wearisome  number  of  times.  At  most  of  these  crossings 
the  bridges  are  wide  and  rather  elegant,  of  cut  stone,  and  made 
in  the  modern  fashion.  At  some,  the  narrow  bridge  of  the  mid- 
dle ages,  hardly  broad  enough  for  a  modern  carriage  to  pass, 
and  with  the  stone  supporters  of  the  port-Cullis  still  standing 
about  their  centre,  stand  beside  those  which  have  supplanted 
them.  And  in  the  most  secluded  recesses  of  the  Alps,  you  meet 
repeatedly  with  bridges  constructed  precisely  on  the  model 
discribed  by  Caesar  in  his  Commentaries  on  the  Gallic  war;  and 
which,  given  by  the  great  Roman  to  the  ancestors  oi^  these  simple 
Vol.  II.— 23 


254  MEMORANDA    OF 

mountaineers — have  been  preserved  unaltered  for  two  thousand 
years,— and  though  rejected  by  the  Avhole  world  beside,  are  still 
perseveringly  retained  by  them.  At  short  intervals  the  ruins  of 
ancient  castles  crown  the  projecting  summits  of  the  lowest  hills : 
and  scattered  at  more  considerable  distances,  are  small  stone 
villages,  having  all  the  appearances  of  want,  filth,  and  desolation, 
■which  the  traveller  will  find  but  too  faithfully  accurate,  as  he 
examines  their  condition  more  narrowly.  From  Geneva  to 
Turin,  we  were  not  so  fortunate  as  to  find  a  single  tolerable 
Inn. 

This  extraordinary  ravine,  as  will  be  at  once  seen  on  a  mere 
inspection  of  the  map,  penetrates  the  Alps  obliquely.  The  course 
of  the  road  from  Chambery  to  Lans-le-Bourg,  presents  a  series  of 
traverses — each  ])arallel  with  a  range  of  mountains  either  behind 
or  before  it — and  generally  both.  The  last  long  traverse  from 
St.  Jean-de-Maurienne,  to  Lans-le-Bourg,  is  similar  in  direction 
and  curve  to  the  chain  of  Mont  Cenis,  upon  whose  base  it  ter- 
minates, at  its  lowest  point  of  elevation.  Without  such  an  ac- 
commodation to  the  structure  of  the  country  it  would  be  utterly 
impossible  to  penetrate  it  even  on  foot;  and  even  after  all  that 
perfect  skill  and  patient  examination  could  reveal,  nothing  short 
of  a  nation's  resources  could  overcome  obstacles  that  could  not 
be  evaded.  The  passage  of  the  Saint  Michael,  and  the  Vorney, 
the  ascent  of  Terraiguon,  and  especially  the  defile  of  Bramoni, 
may  be  cited  as  remarkable  illusiraticms  of  what  has  j^ist  been 
said.  The  defile  of  Braniout  is  one  of  the  most  savage  spots 
upon  which  the  foot  of  man  has  dared  to  intrude.  The  river 
rushes  through  a  fissure  in  the  mountain  so  narrow  that  it  was 
hopeless  to  attempt  to  make  a  road  along  it :  and  at  the  same 
time  so  deep,  that  from  the  point  where  the  road  conducted  along 
the  face  of  the  m.ountain  overhangs  it,  it  can  be  neither  seen  nor 
heard.  To  add  to  the  wildness  of  the  spot,  about  the  middle  of 
the  pass,  another  stream  comes  thundering  down  the  almost  per- 
pendicular rocks,  and  plunges  into  the  abyss.  Just  at  this  point 
are  seated  a  series  of  extensive  and  apparently  impregnable  mil- 
itary works,  extending  to  five  dilierent  fortresses,  the  most  remote 


I 


FOREIGN    TRAVEL.  255 

within  2;un  shot,  the  nearest  on  the  brink  of  the  precipice;  and 
which  could  open  upon  every  point  of  the  ascent  and  descent — 
hundreds  of  mouths  of  fire.  I  was  told  by  a  guide,  that  a  path 
which  he  pointed  out  to  me,  avoided  this  fortress,  and  conducted 
by  a  nearer  way,  deeper  in  the  mountains,  from  Modanue,  west- 
ward of  Bramont,  to  the  top  of  Mount  Cenis. 


256 


MEMORANDA    OF 


CHAPTER   XXVII. 


Passage  of  the  Alps— Ascent  of  Mont  Cenis— Summit  of  tlie  Mountain— Glaciers- 
Popular  mistake  as  to  the  route  of  Hannibal— Southern  descent  of  Cenis— Person- 
al Adventure— Striking  variation  in  Climate— Vastness  of  the  Alpme  Range— Coup 
d 'ceil  of  it— Its  Physical,  Moral,  National  Influences— The  Vallies  of  the  Doiie 
Ficpuare ;  and  of  the  Aosta— Various  Passes  into  Italy— Immense  Plaijis  of  Pied- 
mont and  Lombardy — Conquests  of  Napoleon. 


We  slept  at  Lans-le-BouFg,  at  the  foot  of  Mont  Cenis,  on  the 
night  of  the  20th  October,  1836.  On  the  following  morning  at 
eight  o'clock  we  commenced  the  ascent  of  the  mountain,  with 
five  mules  harnessed  to  our  carriage — two  at  the  pole  and  three 
tandem ;  and  five  guides  attending  their  steps,  each  armed  with 
a  large  whip.  The  number  of  guides  is  settled  by  law,  and  is 
always  equal  to  the  number  of  mules  ;  that  being  left  to  the  op- 
tion of  the  person  hiring  them.  In  winter,  or  any  time  in  case 
of  accidents,  the  services  of  several  men  may  be  indispensable. 
When  the  road  is  in  perfect  order,  and  the  weather  fine,  all  above 
one  are  superfluous.  Our  escort  shewed  that  in  our  case  they 
were  enjoying  a  perquisite  rather  than  fulfilling  a  duty.  Out  of 
the  five,  one  was  a  very  old  man,  two  were  lads,  and  one  a  fine 
bare-headed  boy  often  years  old  ;  the  fifth  was  ason  of  Anak  in 
the  midst  of  his  prime.  They  were  all  illy  clad,  and  showed 
plainly  enough  that  the  luxury  of  combs  and  soap  had  rarely  in- 
truded on  their  abodes.  They  were  all  intelligent  and  obliging, 
and  after  enjoying  the  benefit  of  their  discourse  during  our  long 
walk  to  the  top  of  the  mountain,  I  parted  from  them  with  a  seoti-s 
ment  bordering  on  respect, 


•  1- 

I 


FOREIGN    TRAVEL.  257 

We  could  not  have  asked  a  more  deliorhtful  day,  nor  a  more 
admirable  condition  of  the  road — the  guides  pronounced  every 
thing  to  be  just  as  was  best  for  us ;  and  their  authority  in  all  these 
mountains  is  absolute  over  travellers.  Such  dreadful  accidents 
have  sometimes  occurred,  by  neglecting  their  prognostics,  or  re- 
fusing to  be  guided  by  what  seemed  their  caprices,  that  fearful 
experience  has  made  men  wise.  Pursuing  their  vocation  from 
infancy,  indeed  through  successive  generations,  they  acquire  a 
sharpness  of  sense  in  detecting  appearances  which  others  cannot 
discern,  and  a  skill  in  inferring  from  them  results  apparently  out 
of  reach  of  human  foresight,  which  well  entitle  them  to  a  confi- 
dence that  no  one  has  ever  charged  them  with  abusing. 

"  Will  the  day  be  fair  ?"  was  the  first  question.  "  Perfectly," 
was  the  ready  answer.  ^'  Is  there  any  snow  on  the  mountain  ?" 
"None  in  the  road."  "How  long  will  it  take  us  to  reach  the 
summit?"  "  The  authorised  time  is  two  hours  and  three  quart- 
ers; we  will  do  it  in  less."  The  season  was  advanced,  and  we 
had  to  mount  up  to  an  elevation  of  nine  thousand  feet.  But  the 
last  feeling  of  anxiety  was  removed,  and  the  mules  were  put  into 
a  steady  walk  which  they  kept  to  the  top.  Unless  the  load  is 
very  heavy,  or  the  road  very  bad,  they  never  stop  to  rest.  Nor 
indeed  is  it  necessary,  for  the  ascent  is  gradual,  low  and  equal ; 
and  the  skill  and  perseverance  of  man  has  converted  what  was 
an  almost  impassable  mule  path  into  one  of  the  finest  roads  in 
Europe.  On  this  occasion,  and  as  often  afterwards  as  I  had  op- 
porlunity  to  observe,  I  found  the  iron  shoes  of  the  mules  made  so 
much  longer  than  the  hoof,  as  to  extend  fully  an  inch  in  all  di- 
rections beyond  the  edge  of  it.  They  say  it  is  to  enable  them  to 
hold  the  better  at  a  hard  pull — especially  when  the  sides  of  the 
mountain  are  covered  with  ice.  My  belief  is,  that  the  method 
is  evil ;  for  the  toe  soon  turns  up,  so  as  to  make  the  use  of  the 
shoe  as  a  claw  impossible;  and  I  saw  several  mules  whose  hoofs 
had  been  obviously  split  across,  and  the  bottom  half  broken  off 
by  their  own  efforts  to  pull;  in  consequence  of  the  increased  length 
of  the  lever,  and  therefore  increased  strain  on  the  instep.  Mules 
are  in  very  general  use  in  this  part  of  Europe,  and  are  much  larg- 
er than  those  of  America.  Their  value  is  about  four  or  five 
33* 


258  MEMORANDA    OF 

hundred  francs,  equal  to  seventy-five  to  a  hundred  dollars:  which 
is  also  the  value  of  a  horse  or  ass  in  the  same  region. 

Mont  Cenis  is  ascended  on  the  western  side,  by  seven  trav- 
erses in  the  road.  In  35  minutes  we  made  the  first  turn,  having 
accomplished  one  traverse.  In  1  hour  and  10  minutes  we  were 
opposite  the  chapel  of  Si.  Denis — which  stands  off  to  the  left  of 
the  road.  At  the  end  of  1  hour  and  30  minutes  we  reached  Re- 
covero  No.  23;  that  is,  the  first  of  a  series  of  houses  built  at  in- 
tervals over  the  mountain,  for  the  residence  of  persons  who  work 
on  the  road,  and  as  places  of  refuge  for  travellers  and  guides 
when  in  distress.  The  numbering  begins  on  the  Italian  side  of 
the  mountain,  which  makes  the  highest  number  the  first  one  en- 
countered as  you  ascend  on  the  French  side.  At  the  Recovero 
already  mentioned,  there  is  a  spring  of  clear  water  gushing  out 
of  the  mountain  as  cold  as  ice :  and  hard-by  the  fourth  traverse 
completes  itself.  At  2  hours  and  25  minutes  we  were  at  Re- 
covero2l.  At  Uecovero  20,  a  little  farther  on  where  the  sixth 
traverse  ends,  the  old  and  new  roads  unite.  There  the  eldest 
guide  told  me  he  had  repeatedly  commenced  the  descent  by  the 
old  way  on  a  sledge,  and  in  six  minutes  landed  at  the  village 
which  we  left  two  hours  and  a  half  before.  From  appearances 
the  course  must  have  been  as  perilous  as  it  was  rapid ;  for  the 
road  seemed  to  make  a  hundred  zigzags  on  the  edge  of  a  ridge, 
at  each  of  which  the  guide  must  turn  the  furious  course  of  his 
vehicle  by  a  pointed  staff  driven  against  the  ice;  and  any  want 
of  skill  would  precipitate  sledge,  guide  and  traveller,  down  the 
precipice  at  the  rate  of  about  a  mile  in  two  minutes.  All  along 
both  roads  poles  are  erected  at  short  intervals,  to  indicate  the 
place  where  the  road  passes  when  the  ground  is  covered  with 
snow.  These  posts  were  marked  at  four,  eight  and  twelve  feet, 
or  thereabouts,  from  the  ground.  The  lowest  mark  is  above  the 
common  depth  of  the  snow ;  but  it  is  occasionally  formed  by  the 
wind  into  embankments  above  even  the  highest.  In  2  hours  and 
40  minutes  we  stood  on  the  summit  of  the  mountain,  and  stopped 
at  the  Savoy  barrier  to  discharge  our  mules  and  guides. 

During  the  ascent  the  view  is  hemmed  in  on  all  sides  by  moun- 
tains higher  than  any  elevation  you  reach.    On  the  top  you  find 


FOREIGN    TRAVEL.  259 

yourself  in  the  midst  of  a  narrow  plain,  some  miles  long  and  in- 
dented by  a  small  lake,  which  seems  to  be  fed  by  the  surround- 
ing glaciers  in  summer,  and  congealed  into  a  glacier  itselfduring 
winter.  These  glaciers  are  nothing  more  than  valleys  or  bench- 
es on  the  mountains,  or  recesses  in  their  sides,  filled  with  eternal 
ice.  Their  number  is  of  course  not  known,  though  immense. 
In  the  Swiss  Alps  alone,  Ebal  estimates  the  number  of  consider- 
able ones  to  be  about  400,  covering  at  least  130  square  leagues, 
and  varying  in  depth  from  100  to  600  feet.  Small  ones  seem  al- 
most innumerable.  These  are  covered  with  snow  during  winter, 
and  in  summer  when  the  snow  melts  and  penetrates  the  mass,  it 
seems  to  give  only  increased  compactness  to  it  as  the  water 
passes  off.  The  principal  glaciers  have  not  materially  changed 
their  appearance  or  dimensions,  during  all  the  ages  in  which  they 
have  been  subjected  to  this  process^  under  the  eye  of  watchful 
man.  But  it  results  from  these  facts  that  the  streams  draining 
these  glaciers,  in  other  words  all  those  which  issue  from  the  Alps, 
have  a  periodical  and  regular  increase  in  their  volume  of  water 
as  summer  advances ;  and  then  a  similar  declension  as  winter 
sets  in  ;  reversing  the  facts  that  apply  to  inland  streams  general- 
ly. In  some  Alpine  streams  of  the  first  class  this  annual  varia- 
tion is  of  great  extent.  The  Rhone  at  Geneva  is  subject  to  a 
gradual  summer  rise  to  the  height  often  feet,  although  immedi- 
ately issuing  from  the  largest  lake  formed  by  the  water  drained 
from  the  Alps. 

On  the  northern  side  and  on  the  top  of  Cenis,  there  is  a  thick 
coating  of  herbage  during  three  months  of  the  year — namely, 
July,  August  and  September;  and  during  these  months,  cows, 
sheep  and  goats  are  driven  to  the  highest  regions  where  vegeta- 
tion is  found,  and  their  milk  converted  into  cheese.  For  the  va- 
rious operations  and  necessities  of  this  manufacture,  these  higher 
regions  which  are  not  peopled  except  by  a  few  soldiers,  inn- 
keepers or  monks,  during  the  other  nine  months  ;  are  furnished 
with  numerous  small  stone  liuts,  lodged  in  the  sides  of  the  moun- 
tains, which  being  usually  shut  up  and  forsaken,  greatly  increase 
the  appearance  of  desolation,  which  is  the  prevailing  one,  amidst 


260  MEMORANDA    OF 

these  solitudes.  Upon  the  top  of  the  mountain  the  horizon  is 
completely  shut  in  by  surrounding  eminences  ;  that  is,  upon  the 
bench  of  the  mountain  which  the  road  traverses  ;  for  these  adjoin- 
ing  elevations  of  the  same  mountain  are  five  thousand  feet  high- 
er than  the  road.  Presently  you  pass  the  barrier  of  Italy,  and 
hope  very  soon  to  see  those  vast  and  noble  plains  of  which  guide 
books,  compiled  by  people  who  never  saw  the  objects  described, 
tell ;  and  which  Hannibal,  if  he  entered  Italy  by  this  route,  as  ma- 
ny of  the  learned  assure  us  he  did,  pointed  out  with  ecstacy  to 
his  droopiniT  soldiers  as  the  rich  reward  of  a  march  from  Car- 
thage to  Gibraltar,  and  thence  here.  If  Hannibal  saw  any  plains 
from  the  top  of  Cenis,  one  of  two  things  is  inevitable— either  his 
army  passed  by  some  unknown  and  now  inaccessible  route,  some 
thousands  of  feet  higher  than  any  road  ever  was  at  this  place,  or 
indeed  ever  could  be ;  or  else,  which  is  nearly  as  probable,  the 
enormous  rib  of  the  mountain  which  fills  up  every  crevice  to- 
wards Italy,  has  g-roMjn  since  the  Carthagenians  were  here! 
There  is  another  minute  fact  to  be  overcome ;  there  are  no  plains 
to  be  seen,  if  there  was  full  scope  to  look,  for  more  than  forty 
English  miles  on  the  Italian  side  from  the  top  of  Cenis.  But  on 
the  other  hand,  from  thence  to  Rivoli,  a  narrow  and  crooked 
valley  lined  by  lofty  mountains  and  washed  by  a  mountain  tor- 
rent, is  all  that  could  be  seen  if  the  way  were  open  and  straight. 
Nor  do  I  believe  that  all  that  ever  grew  in  this  little  valley  from 
the  foundation  of  the  world,  would  have  been  considered  by  any 
one  cohort  in  that  fierce  army,  a  compensation  for  exchanging 
delicious  Carthage  for  one  campaign  amidst  the  Alps.  As  to 
prospect  from  Mont  Cenis — there  is  none,  absolutely  none. 

On  the  eastern  face  of  the  mountain  there  is  first  a  rapid  and 
steep  descent,  for  a  short  distance,  by  the  most  magnificent  road 
I  have  ever  seen.  It  is  a  grand  echelon  of  twelve  or  fifteen  trav- 
erses, curved  upon  the  brow  of  the  rocks,  and  cut  out  of  them; 
guarded  by  strong  pillars  and  rails,  and  converting  into  beautiful 
ornaments  three  steep  cascades,  upon  one  of  which  it  terminates, 
while  the  others  are  made  subservient  to  its  descent.  It  is  a  su- 
perb work.    At  its  foot  is  a  short  plain,  and  then  a  regular  and 


FOREIGN    TRAVEL.  261 

constant  descent  to  Susa,  the  first  town  of  Piedmont  into  which 
you  enter.  It  is  situated  twenty  miles  from  the  top  of  the  moun- 
tain, at  the  head  of  the  narrow  valley  which  I  have  already 
mentioned,  and  on  the  banks  of  the  Doire  Ripuare. 

A  personal  occurrence  of  a  very  curious  kind  befel  us  in  pass- 
ing Mont  Cenis.  The  morning  was  so  fine  that  we  were  tempt- 
ed to  leave  our  infant  with  its  nurse  in  the  carriage,  while  its 
mother  and  myself  followed  after  it  on  foot,  conversing  with  the 
guides.  At  the  end  of  the  second  traverse  on  the  road,  perceiv- 
ing that  it  would  lead  us  far  round  to  follow  it,  we  turned  up  the 
mountain  side,  expecting  to  meet  the  carriage  at  the  next  trav- 
erse. But  imperceptibly  verging  from  the  new  route,  we  found 
when  Mrs.  B.,  then  much  an  invalid,  had  become  futigued  by  the 
long,  but  as  yet  gentle  ascent ;  that  we  should  not  encounter  our 
carriage  or  the  new  track  again  before  we  reached  almost  to  the 
summit,  still  five  thousand  feet  above  us.  This  was  for  a  moment 
a  startling  discovery.  Fortunately,  three  of  the  five  guides  had 
turned  aside  with  us,  viz  :  two  boys  and  the  stoutest  of  the  tiTo 
men.  We  united  our  ingenuity  and  strength,  and  accomplished 
the  entire  ascent  as  follows: — The  long  lashes  of  the  whips  were 
tied  around  the  waist  of  the  lady,  and  the  boys  going  before  pull- 
ed up  by  their  handles.  The  man  being  much  taller  than  myself, 
supported  her  under  the  arm  that  lay  next  the  lower  side  of  our 
path,  as  we  shifted  from  time  to  time  the  oblique  line  of  ascent; 
I  myself  supporting  her  on  the  other  side.  In  this  way  we  made 
the  ascent  up  the  face  of  the  mountain,  along  goat  paths,  and 
oftener  without  any  path  at  all ;  and  reached  the  first  Recovero 
before  the  other  party.  A  morning's  v/alk  to  the  top  of  Cenis 
is  a  rare  adventure  for  an  invalid  ;  and  was  in  this  case  the  begins 
ning  of  decided  restoration. 

The  changes  of  climate  wrought  in  a  few  hours  in  passing  the 
Alps,  is  like  the  work  of  enchantment.  The  weather  at  the 
western  foot  of  the  mountain  was  such  as  we  should  expect  on 
a  delightful  autumnal  morning,  in  the  middle  states  of  North 
America.  As  we  ascended,  the  sun  mounted  high  enough  to 
shed  his  warm  and  rich  beams  over  the  middle  region  of  the 
Xflountain,  j^nd  every  thing  wore  the  delightful  aspect  such  a 


262  MEMORANDA  OF 

morning  promised.  Presently,  the  rays  of  tiie  sun  seemed  to 
hare  lost  their  power ;  the  strong  white  frost  lay  in  the  shade  of 
the  rocks  ;  the  blades  of  grass  were  frozen  ;  and  before  we  reach- 
ed the  top  the  ground  wasstiflf  and  hard  with  frost,  the  air  sharp 
and  thin,  and  the  rays  of  the  sun  pale  and  languid.  On  the  top 
we  found  a  lair,  cold,  winter's  day.  As  we  commenced  the  de- 
scent on  the  other  side,  the  laurel  and  pine  disappeared  pretty 
soon  after  the  last  vestiges  of  ice  were  left  behind.  Mid-way 
down,  the  chesnut  covered  the  mountain  side  in  rich  leaf,  and  the 
fruit  still  hanging  as  if  no  frost  had  touched  it.  Before  we  reach- 
ed Susa  the  mulberry,  the  walnut  and  the  vine  covered  every 
spot  of  ground  on  the  hill  sides  rich  enough  to  sustain  them;  the 
atmosphere  was  soft  and  full  of  light,  and  we  were  carried  back 
to  the  last  days  of  g'owing  summer.  The  people  sat  in  the 
streets  at  work;  a  pedlar  hauled  about  a  go-cart,  with  articles 
of  summer  apparel  for  sale  ;  and  the  females  that  herded  a  few 
goats,  or  cows,  grazing  on  the  road  side,  siood  without  any  cov- 
ering on  the  head,  neck  or  arms;  spinning  thread  with  the  fing- 
ers, on  the  peculiar  distaff  and  broach  of  the  country.  The  male 
labourers  were  doing  the  work  which  I  had  seen  finished  in 
France  more  than  a  month  before — preparing  the  ground  for 
their  grain,  with  four  oxen  yoked  to  a  plough,  whose  long  single 
handle  projected  behind  from  ten  to  fifteen  feet;  and  rendered 
their  twenty  foot  reed,  with  a  goad  in  the  end,  as  indispensable 
as  the  whip  of  other  plowmen.  Half  the  cycle  of  the  seasons 
was  passed  over  in  a  day.  The  delicious  climate  of  Italy  seemed 
to  extend  with  all  its  power  to  the  very  limits  of  the  land  ;  but  to 
limit  its  balmy  influences  within  the  same  circumference. 

In  whatever  light  they  may  be  considered,  there  are  few  natu- 
ral objects  of  more  interest  than  the  great  chain  of  mountains 
which  have  received  the  common  name  of  Alps  :  a  name  purely 
Celtic,  and  expressive  simply  of  their  elevation.  But  although 
that  is  in  many  places  immense ;  attaining  very  frequently  to 
twelve,  thirteen,  fourteen  and  even  fifteen  thousand  feet  above 
the  level  of  the  Mediterranean ;  and  being  throughout  the  great- 
er  part  of  their  course  covered  with  perpetual  snow,  wherever 
they  exceed  eight  thousand  feet ;  yet  their  other  proportions  are 


FOREIGN    TRAVEL.  263 

quite  as  striking  as  their  height.  With  an  average  base  of  more 
than  two  hundred  miles  in  breadth,  they  extend  from  the  shores 
of  the  Mediterranean  to  those  of  the  Blaci<  Sea ;  a  distance  little 
short  of  two  thousand  miles  across  the  continent  of  Europe. 
Throughout  this  great  range  they  receive  various  appellations ; 
and  towards  their  eastern  extremity,  where  it  is  probable  the 
Celtic  race  and  language  never  penetrated,  they  lose  entirely 
all  traces  of  a  western  nomenclature.  Commencing  on  the  Med- 
iterranean, upon  the  gulf  of  Genoa,  they  separate  ancient  Ligu- 
ria  from  Provence,  covering  both  with  their  vast  ribs;  and  shoot- 
ing off  through  the  former,  the  lofty  chain  of  Appenines,  which 
penetrate  the  whole  peninsula  of  Italy  ;  and  if  counted  as  of  the 
same  chain  with  the  Alps,  which  they  absolutely  are,  add  anoth- 
er thousand  miles  to  their  extent.  That  portion  just  located  is 
called  the  Maritime  Alps;  then  follow  the  Cottien  Alps,  which 
reach  to  Mont  Cenis,  separating  Dauphine  from  Piedmont. 
Where  they  divide  Piedmont  from  Savoy,  they  are  called  the 
Grecque  Alps — that  word  signifying  in  French,  a  fret  ivork — 
and  fully  expressing  the  real  character  of  the  thing.  From  these 
to  Mount  Rose  they  are  called  the  High  Alps,  and  often  the  Pen- 
nic  Alps.  Thence  to  the  Grisons  they  receive  the  name  of  Hel- 
vetic Alps.  Through  the  Grisons  and  the  Tyrol  to  the  frontiers 
of  Carinthia  they  are  called  Rhelian  Alps.  Throughout  Carin- 
thia,  Styria,  the  region  of  Salzbourg,  and  the  district  of  Austria 
they  receive  the  general  name  of  Nozique  Alps,  to  the  plains  of 
Oldenburg  and  Hungary.  They  are  called  Carnique  on  the  south 
of  the  Drave  from  Mount  Pelegrino  to  the  sources  of  the  Save. 
The  Julian  Alps  separate  Frioul  and  Istria  from  Carniola,  Croa- 
tia and  Sclavonia.  Then  follow,  along  the  right  bank  of  the 
Danube,  the  Dinarique  Ranges.  After  these  are  the  Balkan 
Mountains,  the  ancient  Hoemus;  which,  passing  between  Rou- 
melia  and  Bulgaria  terminate  upon  the  Black  Sea,  only  to  arise  in 
greater  elevation  on  its  north-eastern  borders,  and  under  the 
name  of  Caucasus  project  itself  even  to  the  Caspian  Sea— and 
probably  through  the  bosom  of  Tartary,  on  the  other  side. 

The  barrier  of  countless  tribes ;  the  palladium  of  the  weak ; 
the  mighty  rampart  against  ambition  and  power ;  how  manifold 


264  MEMORANDA    OF 

and  potential  are  the  offices  which  the  silent  and  passive  resist- 
ance  of  this  dead  giant  has  performed  in  the  political  history  of 
the  world  !  Its  influence  upon  climate,  and  thus  upon  the  physi- 
cal constitution,  the  habitudes  and  the  pursuits  of  the  nations 
that  have  dwelt  upon  its  sides  and  at  its  feet;  its  influence  upon 
the  social  life  of  man — and  thus  upon  his  language,  his  literature, 
his  taste,  his  knowledge — and  all  of  good  or  ill  that  springs  from 
the  free  action  of  mind  on  mind  ;  its  direct  moral  influences — if 
indeed  such  influences  exist  in  inanimate  objects — but  at  least  its 
indirect  influence  upon  religion,  by  affecting  the  opportunities  of 
receiving,  and  influencing  the  means  of  retaining  its  impressions  ; 
in  how  many  ways  is  the  world  different  from  what  it  would 
have  been,  by  reason  of  the  efforts  which  have  recoiled  from  these 
awful  ramparts;  or  been  swallowed  up  in  their  cold  recesses? 
We  boast  of  what  we  are ;  of  what  we  have  done  ;  of  what  we 
will  be ;  of  what  we  will  make  all  things  around  us.  And  yet 
what  are  we  at  the  best,  but  goodly  vessels  driven  upon  waves 
which  deride  our  control;  by  winds  which  mock  us  every  hour 
of  our  existence  ;  and  where  the  only  thing  constant  seems  to  be 
the  rocks,  which  watch  in  sleepless  silence  for  our  ruin.  And 
yet  we  feel  an  indwelling  sense  of  superiority,  and  an  instinctive 
assurance  of  triumph,  over  objects  to  which  we  seem  as  nothing, 
and  against  which  our  might  is  less  than  nothing.  Even  the 
reminiscences,  as  if  of  a  past  and  glorious  state,  seem  to  sustain 
our  hearts  amid  the  acknowledged  insignificance  of  our  present 
condition,  and  nourish  the  assurance  of  a  greatness,  future  but 
certain.  Future ;  yes,  in  that  it  is  not  yet  realised.  But  certain 
— alas!  who  shall  assure  that?  And  yet  more  than  our  wildest 
hopes  may  be  realized ;  but  not  here.  "  Glory,  honour  and  im- 
mortality" are  within  our  reach  ;  and  the  ruins  of  our  once  glori- 
ous nature,  still  instinct  with  enough  of  its  former  greatness,  to 
refuse  to  be  satisfied  with  the  fellowship  of  earth,  languish  for 
something  beyond  ;  still  future ;  still  more  exalted  ;  but  what,  we 
know  not,  and  still  refuse  to  learn.  How  good  is  the  Lord,  that 
he  will  permit  us  to  be  satisfied  only  in  him!  How  infinitely 
certain  would  be  the  universal  perdition  of  men,  if  the  sin  we 


FOREIGN   TRAVEL.  265 

seek  so  eagerly  could  fully  engage  and  satisfy  the  vast  desires — 
the  immortal  longings  of  the  soul! 

The  valley  of  the  Doire  Ripuare,  which  conducts  the  road  from 
the  base  of  Cenis  towards  the  Turin,  is  not  only  extremely  nar- 
row for  a  number  of  miles,  but  the  river  and  the  torrents  which 
fall  into  it  from  the  mountains  on  either  hand,  have  covered  a 
considerable  part  of  it  with  gravel  and  stones,  and  rendered  it 
unfit  for  cultivation.  Along  all  these  vallies  the  husbandman  is 
subjected  to  inundations  of  this  kind,  which  not  only  destroy  his 
growing  crops,  but  ruin  totally  his  inheritance.  The  smallest 
streams  gurgle  along,  almost  lost  in  the  wide  rocky  channels 
through  which  their  waters  sometimes  rush  with  irresistible  fury. 
And  at  intervals  channels  perfectly  dry,  gape  for  the  streams  that 
occasionally  rush  down  the  mountains,  and  hurl  the  rubbish, 
gravel  and  holders  which  they  had  accumulated  from  a  hundred 
sources,  through  them,  over  the  narrow  and  fertile  region  around. 
The  inhabitants  repay  themselves  by  an  ingenious  and  patient 
process,  in  which  they  lorce  the  same  elements  that  destroy  to 
create  for  them  other  fields.  By  selecting  an  eddy,  and  surround- 
ing it  with  a  wall  of  loose  stones,  the  waters  deposit  from  year 
to  year  a  rich  loam,  which  by-and-by  they  secure  against  further 
ingress  of  the  water,  and  turn  to  profitable  cultivation.  To  the 
'eft  of  this  valley  lies  that  of  Aosta,  into  Vv'-hich  the  routes  over 
the  Little  and  Great  St.  Bernard  both  debouche.  The  first  of 
these  passes  is  the  nearer  of  the  two  to  Cenis,  and  is  considered 
one  of  the  easiest  and  lowest  over  the  Alps.  The  latter  is  more 
difficult,  though  only  a  few  hundred  feet  higher  than  Mont  Ce- 
nis. Between  the  Great  St.  Bernard  at  the  Semplon,  there  is  a 
long  interval  of  almost  inaccessible  mountains.  The  road  over  it 
is  famous  throughout  the  world,  as  one  of  the  greatest  of  Napo- 
leon's conceptions.  It  is  not  quite  so  high  as  Mont  Cenis,  but 
the  road  has  not  only  been  neglected,  but  the  Austrian  and  Sar- 
dinian governments  did  every  thing  they  could  to  destroy  it,  ex- 
cept to  give  open  orders  to  that  effect.  Recently,  a  change  of 
views  has  been  manifest;  and  at  present  the  road  is  undergoing 
repairs.  Beyond  the  Semplon  the  Splugen  aflbrds  the  lowest  of 
all  the  great  passes  of  the  Alps,  which  are  there  only  a  few  thous- 
Vol.  n.— 24 


2^6  MEMORANDA    OF 

and  feet  high.  Still  farther  east  is  the  route  by  the  Saint  Goth- 
ard,  one  of  the  wildest  and  most  difficult  of  all,  seated  in  the 
midst  of  the  mountains  of  Switzerland.  Beyond  are  the  domin- 
ions of  Austria,  and  the  great  curve  in  the  Alpine  chain  corres- 
ponding with  the  head  of  the  Adriatic* 

The  valley  of  the  Doire  is  crowded  with  little  and  peculiarly 
mean  villages,  which  increase  in  size  as  the  country  opens;  until 
at  Rivoli,  about  ten  miles  from  Turin,  you  find  yourself  in  the 
midst  of  the  delicious  plains  which  stretch  from  thence  towards 
the  east,  without  interruption,  to  Venice  and  Bologna — diagonal- 
ly across  the  large  end  of  Italy.  These  are  the  renowned  pains 
of  Lombard}'  and  Piedmont,  drained  and  irrigated  in  turn  by  the 
Po,  which  the  Romans  designated  the  "  Father  of  Rivers." — 
Plains  which  rewarded  the  Roman  soldier  for  those  victories 
which  subdued  the  world  ;  which  compensated  the  Carlhageni- 
ans  for  the  horrors  of  their  unparalleled  march ;  and  which  so 
ravished  the  barbarians  who  subverted  the  Western  Empire  that 
banishment  from  their  own  country,  wherever  that  unkiown 
country  lay,  was  considered  the  lot  of  the  fortunate,  that  they 
might  abide  here  ;  death  itself  being  preferable  to  existence  any 
where  else;  and  even  war,  their  former  joy,  a  burden,  if  it  call- 
ed them  from  these  abodes.  It  was  upon  these  plains  that  Na- 
poleon twice  decided  the  fate  of  Europe,  and  filled  it  with  the 
terror  of  his  name.  Issuing  first,  an  unknown  boy,  with  a  hand- 
ful of  beaten  troops  from  the  defiles  behind  Nice  and  Genoa,  he 
destroyed  in  five  months  five  Austrian  armies,  each  larger  than 
his  own;  conquered  all  Italy,  and  dictated  at  Campo  Formio  in 
October,  1797,  a  treaty  of  peace  whose  principles  became  the 
l>asis  oi'  all  his  succeeding  treaties.  A  lew  years  elapsed,  and 
all  this  miL^hty  work  was  overthrown;  the  French  driven  behind 
the  Var,  or  shut  up  in  Genoa,  and  Italy  lost.  Again  the  same 
terrible  genius  appeared  in  the  midst  of  these  plains;  but  from 
ail  opposite  quarter,  and  with  a  name  thai  filled  the  world.  From 
the  top  of  the  Great  St.  Bernard  the  First  Consul  rushed  down 
upon  this  garden  of  the  world.  Received  the  second  lime  by 
the  people  as  their  deliverer,  all  human  resistance  seemed  like 
chafi'  before  him ;  and  the  fiat  of  destiny  slower  and  not  more 


I 


rOREIGN    TRAVEL.  267 

certain  than  his  stroke.  On  the  18th  of  May,  1800,  he  was  up- 
on the  summit  of  the  Alps ;  on  the  3d  of  July  he  re-entered  Paris 
in  triumph;  the  object  of  an  enthusiasm  absolutely  delirious,  on 
the  part  of  all  France.  He  had  reconquered  and  reorganized 
Italy — in  forty  days! 

How  absolute  and  total  is  the  change  in  the  tide  of  empire! 
The  conquerors  of  the  world  crept  nerthward  over  the  Alps, 
dragging  victory  slowly  after  their  steps.  The  swoop  of  the 
eagle  on  its  timid  prey,  shadows  forth  the  return  of  the  tide 
upon  Italy. 


I 


268  MEMORANDA   OF 


CHAPTER  XXVIII. 


Italy— Territorial  Divisions— Kingdom  of  Sardinia— Piedmont— Coup  d'oeil— Social 
State— Mendicants— Priests— Soldiers— Immense  Difficulties  of  Reform— Grounds 
of  Popular  Security— The  Grandeur  of  the  Future. 


Italy,  embracing  the  islands  of  Sicily,  Sardinia,  and  Corsica, 
has  a  superficial  extent  of  92,000  square  miles  ;  larger  by  one- 
third  than  single  states  of  the  first  class  which  compose  our  con- 
federacy. Of  this  surface  two-thirds  at  least  are  mountains  or 
marshes.  It  is  divided  at  present  into  eleven  sovereignties;  or 
if  Malta  be  added,  into  twelve  ;  which  unitedly  contain  a  popu- 
lation of  nineteen  and  a  half  millions.  The  north  of  Italy  is 
divided  between  the  Emperor  of  Austria  and  the  King  of  Sar- 
dinia ;  next  follow  the  four  small  Duchies  of  Parma,  Modena, 
Lucca,  and  Massa,  and  below  thera^ihe  larger  one  of  Tuscany, 
on  the  western  side  of  the  Peninsula  ;  and  the  states  of  the 
Pope  extending  obliquely  across  it,  from  the  Adriatic  to  the 
Mediterranean  sea.  The  little  republic  of  San  Marino,  is  in  the 
Appenines,  near  the  Adriatic,  surrounded  by  the  territories  of  the 
Pope.  Corsica  lies  opposite  Tuscany ;  the  kingdom  of  the  Two 
Sicilies  occupies  the  whole  of  Southern  Italy,  except  the  island 
of  Malta,  which  is  below  that  of  Sicily,  and  which  appertains  to 
England.  Nine  parts  out  of  ten  of  the  peninsula,  belong  to 
foreigners  and  strangers;  and  the  names  of  many  of  the  gov- 
ernments are  derived  from  sources  not  strictly  Italian.  The 
islands  of  Sicily  and  Sardinia  give  their  names  to  half  of  Italy. 


FOREIGN    TRAVEL.  269 

The  kingdom  of  Lombard-Venice,  ruled  with  a  rod  of  iron  by 
Austria — contains  three  outrages  on  the  national  feeling  in  the 
three  words  of  its  name.  It  is  no  kingdom,  but  the  moat  abject 
dependency  on  the  Austrian  Empire;  and  its  impotence  is  not 
more  in  contrast  with  the  giant  strength  of  the  Lombard  King- 
dom, than  its  meanness  and  servility  are  the  opposite  of  all  that 
made  the  republic  of  Venice,  the  glory  of  Europe,  and  the  nurse 
of  its  civilization.  To  make  the  degradation  complete,  the 
College  of  Cardinals  has  supplanted  the  Senate  of  Rome  ;  and 
the  throne  of  the  Csesars,  has  been  gradually  and  steadily  de- 
graded into  irredeemable  contempt,  by  a  series  of  popes  who  for 
thirteen  centuries  have  exhibited  the  most  criminal  succession 
that  ever  existed  amongst  men. 

The  states  of  the  King  of  Sardinia,  unitedly  form  the  second 
in  point  of  territorial  extent,  and  the  third  in  population,  of  the 
governments  of  Italy.  Piedmont,  Savoy,  the  ancient  city  of 
Nice,  the  republic  of  Genoa,  and  the  island  of  Sardinia,  form  a 
Kingdom,  named  after  the  last  of  the  five  states  ;  and  ruled  oyer 
by  the  ancient  house  of  Savoy.  The  ^viiole  kingdom  contains, 
a  population  of  four  millions. 

Piedmont  is  the  largest,  and  much  the  most  important  of  the 
states  of  the  King  of  Sardinia,  This  beautiful  region  is  sepa 
rated  on  the  east  from  the  Austrian  possessions  in  Italy  by  the 
Lago  Maggiore,  the  Ticino,  and  the  Po.  On  the  other  three 
sides,  it  is  surrounded  by  the  Alps  and  the  Appenines.  Looking 
towards  the  former,  we  behold  at  their  tops  nothing  but  glaciers, 
hiding  their  summits  in  the  clouds.  A  little  lower  we  discover 
dark  forests  of  pines  ;  and  nearer  still  to  the  planes,  a  wide  belt 
of  chesnuts  and  oaks  prove  the  rapid  amelioration  of  the  climate. 
At  the  foot  of  the  mountains,  a  still  wider  zone  prolongs  itself 
over  the  lessening  hills  and  into  the  edges  of  the  plains,  where  a 
thin  soil  requires  all  the  aid  of  position  and  indefatigable  toil,  to 
fulfil  the  hopes  of  the  husbandman.  Then  come  the  wide  plains 
,  covered  with  the  grain  of  every  climate  ;  the  rice  of  the  south, 
springing  beside  the  wheat  of  a  more  northern  region, — and  the 
luxuriant  maize  of  the  middle  and  most  delightful  portions  of  the 
earth  ;  all  apparently,  in  singular  perfection.  As  you  advance 
24* 


270 


MEMORANDA    OF 


towards  the  south,  the  mulberry  and  the  vine  which  flourish 
every  where  around  you,  become  mingled  with  the  fig,  in  the 
open  air.  But  it  is  not  till  you  pass  over  the  borders  of  ancient 
Liguria,  that  the  olive,  the  orange,  the  lemon,  and  the  almond 
tree  fill  the  atmosphere  with  their  delicious  fragrance,  and  furnish 
what  to  less  favoured  countries  are  only  delicacies, — but  here, 
the  prime  necessaries  of  life.  Without  the  olive  especially,  Italy 
would  be  a  hundred  times  worse  off  than  America  would  be 
without  the  cow  sfnd  the  hog ;  for  strange  as  the  comparison 
may  seem,  it  will  appear  to  be  natural,  when  it  is  known  that  the 
olive  oil  is  meat,  butter  and  milk— and  not  seldom,  bread  also,  to 
thousands  of  people.  In  whole  districts,  neither  butter  nor  lard 
are  heard  of,  even  at  the  best  hotels  ;  and  even  the  small  por- 
tion of  sheep's  milk  and  goat's  milk  kept  for  the  luxurious,  who 
require  it  with  coffee,  is  very  poor  and  dear.  The  cake  of  the 
olive,  after  it  has  been  mashed  and  the  oil  pressed  out,  is  the 
principal  fuel,  in  many  houses — even  as  far  north  as  Nice  and 
Genoa.  They  put  it  in  a  bason  or  open  furnace,  and  set  it  in 
the  midst  of  the  apartment :  believing,  or  affecting  to  believe, 
that  it  emits  neither  smoke  nor  odour  ;  both  of  which,  but  espe- 
cially the  latter,  I  have  personal  knowledge,  are  mistakes. 

Turin,  the  capital  of  ihe  kingdom  of  Sardinia,  and  the  chief 
city  of  Piedmont,  is  also  one  of  the  largest  of  Italy.  It  contains 
120,000  inhabitants,  of  whom  I  suppose  one  in  every  three  of 
the  adult  males,  is  a  soldier,  a  priest,  or  a  beggar.  After  the 
overthrow  of  Napoleon,  and  the  restoration  of  the  reigning 
family,  in  1814,  it  was  determined  to  restore  every  thing  pre- 
cisel}'  to  the  condition  in  which  it  stood  before  the  French 
invaded  Italy  the  first  time.  They  who  desire  to  see  the  ancient 
order  of  things,  have  an  opportunity  here,  of  witnessing  the 
precise  condition  of  European  states  before  the  French  Revolu- 
tion. The  great  ideas  wiilch  the  last  fifty  years  have  made 
famiHar  to  the  world,  and  which  have  shaken  the  world  itself— 
exist  here  only  incognite.  If  they  penetrate  through  all  barriers 
and  find  a  lodgment  in  some  congenial  soil,  the  dungeons  of 
Austria  are  open  to  receive  and  cure  the  unhappy  infected. 
Who  has  not  heiird  the  name  of  Silvio  Pellico.''    The  gigantic 


FOREIGN    TRAVEL.  271 

strides  which  men  have  taken,  within  that  wonderful  half  cen- 
tury, in  which  the  human  race  has  made  a  greater  progress  in 
wealth,  in  general  knowledge,  in  social  improvement,  and  in 
religious  ideas, — in  short,  in  all  that  is  practically  efficient  and 
great,  than  in  the  preceding  ten  centuries ;  have  left  all  Italy,  and 
with  the  rest,  Sardinia,  just  where  she  was.  She  has  stood  still. 
Supported  by  the  whole  military  power  of  Austria — the  throne 
of  Sardinia  is  seated  upon  the  top  of  a  pyramid  of  Romish  altars 
— exalted  out  of  the  reach  of  knowledge  or  reform.  Every 
thing  is  settled  upon  principles  which  exclude  the  idea  of  merit, 
and  make  personal  effort  a  useless  absurdity.  If  a  man  he  of 
such  a  rank,  he  is  entitled  to  command  a  regiment,  or  have  a 
bishopric;  if  of  another,  his  place  is  to  be  that  of  priest  or 
captain.  The  only  possible  exception  is,  that  the  king  should 
degrade  or  elevate  at  his  caprice,  above  or  below  the  standard, 
but  within  the  charmed  circle  ;  or  that  the  pope  should  give  or 
refuse  favour,  a  point  or  two  aside  from  the  usual  course.  The 
great  bulk  of  the  people  have  no  rights,  but  to  rejoice  in  the 
paternal  government  of  the  king,  and  grow  wise  under  the 
spiritual  guidance  of  the  ecclesiastics,  and  pay  with  contentment 
the  grinding  demands  of  both.  It  is  a  most  instructive  hint,  on 
the  nature  of  kingly  power,  that  the  only  thing  which  was  left 
untouched  in  1814,  was  the  public  imposts:  which  being  im- 
mensely augmented  were  generally  allowed  to  stand  as  they 
were ! 

The  mendicants  of  Turin,  for  number,  urgency,  and  squalled 
want,  exceed  belief  And  multitudes  who  are  loo  much  disabled 
by  afflictions  to  follow  and  harrass'the  passers-by  ;  assume  cer- 
tain positions,  and  there  make  known  their  wants  and  sorrows, 
in  loud  and  periodical  lamentations.  The  proportion  of  blind, 
deformed,  and  disabled  persons,  throughout  Sardinia,  is  frightful. 
Many  of  these  cases  are  presented  by  very  young  persons,  and 
seem  to  manifest  either  a  degree  of  poverty  which  renders  the 
care  of  children  impossible  to  their  wretched  mothers ;  or,  which 
is  still  more  frightful  to  suppose,  a  degree  of  brutal  degradation, 
which  so  weakens  even  the  parental  affections,  as  to  render 
mothers  careless  of  the  helpless  infancy  of  their  oflJipring, 


272  MEMORANDA    OF 

I  ought,  perhaps,  to  apologize  to  all  three  of  these  immense 
classes,  for  uniting  them  ;  for  so  little  is  their  affinity  in  some 
respects,  that  I  never  saw  a  soldier  beg ;  nor  a  priest  give  one 
farthing  to  a  mendicant.  Both  these  peculiarities  struck  me 
vi'ith  force.  For  the  very  few  native  beggars  I  had  seen  in  my 
own  happy  country,  passed  generally  for  "  old  soldiers."  And 
the  Roman  priesthood  every  where,  makes  the  act  of  alms-giving 
so  great  a  virtue,  and  professes  so  constantly  the  duty  of  per- 
forming it ;  that  I  had  expected  nothing  less  than  some  general 
provision  for  the  poor,  where  Catholicism  reigned,  and  hoped 
surely  to  see  ready  manifestations  of  benevolence  by  the  priests 
themselves.  In  both  respects  I  was  entirely  disappointed.  The 
poor,  the  mendicant,  the  wretched,  unpitied,  unprotected  sufferer, 
multiplies  generally  in  proportion  to  the  absolute  reign  of  papism  ; 
and  the  total  absence  of  all  general  and  public  provision  for  their 
support  accords  with  this  horrible  increase  of  the  need  of  it. — 
On  the  other  hand,  the  Catholic  ecclesiastics  seem  to  consider 
the  duty  of  alms  giving  to  have  relation  to  them  only  as  recipi- 
ents, never  as  distributors  of  the  bounty  of  the  world.  I  have 
said  I  never  saw  a  priest  bestow  an  alms.  I  should  add,  I  never 
saw  one  solicited  for  an  alms.  The  mendicant  who  sits  in  rags 
at  the  street  corner,  unable  to  walk,  and  imploring  a  copper  in 
the  name  of  God,  stops  his  complaints,  and  bows  his  head  in 
reverent  silence,  while  the  priest  passes  in  total  neglect  of  him. 
The  most  urgent  beggar  will  encounter  a  hundred  priests  in  a 
day,  and  never  think  of  demanding  charity  from  one.  I  have 
sought  the  solution  of  this  mystery.  I  have  demanded  of  the 
poor — "  Why  do  you  beg  me  ?  I  am  a  stranger  and  a  heretic. — 
I  saw  you  but  now,  pass  that  well  dressed  priest  in  silence.  Why 
did  you  not  beg  him  ?"  To  such  enquiries  I  have  never  received 
a  verbal  or  a  direct  answer.  Some  have  stared  in  my  face,  in 
absolute  amazement :  some  have  shrugged  their  shoulders  :  some 
looked  at  me  acutely,  and  smiled  :  some  turned  on  their  heel  and 
walked  off.  I  have  asked  for  the  solution,  at  persons  better 
informed  and  of  various  classes ;  and  the  response  has  always 
been,  in  substance,  that  the  contributions  flowed  all  the  other 
way :  that  the  beggars  gave  the  priests  daily,  weekly,  monthly, 


FOREIGN    TRAVEL.  273 

and  yearly  contributions,  for  ten  thousand  objects,  directly  and 
indirectly  spiritual ;  but  that  the  priests  gave  the  beggars  nothing 
of  their  own,  at  any  time — and  rarely  the  full  amount  of  that 
which  the  benevolence  of  former  ages  placed  in  their  hands,  in 
trust,  for  suffering  humanity. 

There  is,  however,  an  important  sense  in  which  soldiers,  men- 
dicants, and  priests  must  be  coupled  in  the  minds  of  all  who 
think  deeply.  In  the  existing  state  of  human  society  there  must 
needs  be  wars  and  bloodshed ;  and  the  only  alternative  seems  to 
be,  to  pay  soldiers  or  to  pay  masters.  The  necessity  for  public 
teachers  is  even  more  apparent  than  that  for  public  defenders, 
and  is  likely  to  be  more  extended  in  duration.  For  even  if  we 
rank  liberty  above  all  human  attainments,  it  were  better  to  lose 
earth  than  heaven.  But  it  must  be  manifest  that  the  wants  of  a 
community  are  exceedingly  limited  in  both  these  respects,  as  to 
the  relative  proportions  of  the  body,  which  shall  be  called  on  to 
defend  and  teach  the  remainder.  Indeed  it  is  evident  that  the 
public  capacity  to  support  these  two  corps,  is  limited,  almost 
as  narrowly  as  the  public  necessity  for  them  can  be.  When  the 
necessary  proportion  is  overpassed,  the  community  is  burdened, 
and  the  required  duties  worse  performed.  When  the  support- 
able proportion  is  exceeded,  the  state  is  impoverished  and  op- 
pressed ;  its  defenders  become  its  greatest  curse,  and  serve  only 
to  repress  its  efforts  at  reform  ;  while  its  public  teachers  of  all 
kinds,  but  especially  its  religious  teachers  increase  the  general 
poverty,  by  the  amount  drawn  from  it  for  their  own  subsistence, 
augment  the  aggregate  licentiousness,  by  the  contagion  of  their 
own  idle  and  vicious  lives — and  add  the  sanction  of  religion  and 
philosophy  to  the  ignorance  and  degradation  of  a  condition 
which  cannot  be  remedied  without  at  once  undermining  their 
power,  and  destroying  their  importance.  These  remarks  apply 
of  course,  only  to  that  condition  of  society  in  which  religion 
finds  itself  established  by  force  of  law.  Their  truth  is  fully 
illustrated  in  the  dreadful  condition  of  the  people  of  which  I 
write.  Here  the  main  end  of  government  is  to  gratify  the  sov- 
ereign caprices,  of  a  man  they  call  "  King ;"  and  to  pamper  the 
lust  of  a  small  privileged  class  around  him.    The  great  aim  of 


274  MEMORANDA    OF 

all  the  immense  preparations  for  public  defence  is  to  keep  the 
people  themselves  in  subjection.  And  the  real  object  of  the 
Papal  church,  no  other  than  to  extend  indefinitely  a  system 
necessary  for  tyrants,  because  it  sanctifies  their  crimes  ;  neces- 
sary for  the  oppressed  and  debased,  because  it  makes  their  suf- 
ferings virtues,  and  their  brutal  sensualism  harmless;  and  for 
the  hierarchy  itself,  necessary  as  a  competent  support  for  the 
present  day — and  the  only  hope  which  the  future  presents  for 
regaining  the  empire  of  the  world. 

It  would  be  unjust  to  apply  these  remarks  with  absolute  uni- 
versality. I  do  not  doubt  that  amongst  the  Catholic  clergy  of 
all  countries  there  may  be  persons  of  virtue  and  honour,  who 
fulfil  their  known  duties  with  propriety ;  and  who  would  seize 
Avith  joy  every  occasion  to  ameliorate  evils  which  they  see  to 
be  dreadful,  but  which  they  cannot  see  are  either  inherent  in 
their  religious  system,  or  results  of  its  usual  action.  On  the 
other  hand,  it  is  proven  by  facts  of  no  distant  occurrence,  as 
well  as  by  manifest  tokens  visible  in  all  the  armies  of  Europe — 
that  it  is  not  always  safe  to  trust  that  the  soldier  has  entirely 
forgotten  all  the  duties  of  the  citizen,  and  all  the  noble  sympa- 
thies of  man.  In  the  year  1820,  the  attempt  to  free  northern 
Italy  from  the  yoke  of  foreigners,  and  unite  it  in  one  powerful 
state,  under  some  native  prince — was  conceived,  matured,  and 
but  for  a  premature  explosion  would  probably  have  been  exe- 
cuted, by  a  portion  of  the  Sardinian  army.  That  it  failed,  proves 
the  general  truth  of  m}?  observations ;  while  the  fact  of  its  con- 
ception teaches,  as  I  admit,  that  their  truth  is  not  universal. 
Nor  should  we  on  the  whole  consider  the  present  King  of  Sar- 
dinia, or  any  other  particular  Sovereign  responsible,  in  the 
largest  extent  for  existing  systems.  If  Charles  Albert  were 
ever  so  desirous  of  giving  free  institutions  to  Sardinia,  it  is  most 
probable  that  he  would  fail,  perhaps  perish,  in  the  undertaking; 
or  if  he  succeeded,  it  would  be  with  care,  labour,  and  danger,  far 
beyond  what  he  would  encounter  in  the  quiet  enjoyment  of  his 
absolute  power.  It  is  far  Irom  certain  that  the  mass  of  his  sub- 
jects are  in  a  condition  either  to  appreciate  or  enjoy  such  glorious 
gifts.    It  is  clear,  past  question,  tiiat  the  power  and  influence  of 


FOREIGN    TRAVEL.  275 

his  nobles  and  priests  would  be  thrown  against  him.  And  few 
can  doubt  what  would  be  the  course  of  all  other  absolute  sov- 
ereigns, especially  his  neighbours  of  Austria  and  Naples,  if  an 
attempt  were  made  to  organize  liberty  in  Italy. 

The  truth  is,  there  exists  a  vast  conspiracy  against  man, 
formed  between  kings,  soldiers,  and  the  hierophants  of  all  false 
religions.  The  sword  and  the  king  are  constant  elements;  the 
third  varies  as  {\ilse  religion  varies — but  is  ever  its  minister, 
whether  Priest,  Mufti,  Bramin,  or  Conjurer.  Against  this  terrific 
combination  we  have  a  tripple  defence  :  the  Bible,  the  Press,  and 
the  Schoolmaster.  With  the  free  action  of  either  one  of  these 
agents,  we  can  subvert  the  whole  power  of  our  enemies  combined. 
But  though  we  can  subdue  our  adversaries  with  either,  we  can 
recover  the  world  only  by  the  united  power  of  all  these  agents. 
In  France  the  power  of  the  press  alone,  has  destroyed  all  adverse 
combinations;  but  the  Bible  and  the  horn  book  were  wanting, 
and  therefore  nothing  stable  exists.  In  England,  they  have  the 
Bible  and  the  press  only;  in  Ireland  the  press  only  ;  in  Scotland 
only,  and  in  some  of  the  Swiss  Cantons,  all  three.  Behold  in 
each  the  appropriate  results. 

In  the  midst  of  this  conflict,  there  is  one  thought  too  consoling 
to  be  forgotten.  The  ranks  of  our  adversaries  are  no  longer 
thoroughly  united.  In  several  countries  absolute  power  has 
wavered,  and  fragments  of  constitutions  have  been  given  to  a 
ihw  states  where  till  lately  despotism  prevailed.  So  again,  in 
one  single  instance,  unique  and  illustrious  in  the  whole  lapse  of 
centuries,  a  state  thoroughly  Papal,  (I  mean  Belgium)  driven  by 
the  intense  power  of  the  age,  has  permitted  for  the  time  religious 
toleration,  nominally  complete.  But  above  all,  the  vast  engines 
of  oppression,  the  millions  of  armed  men  of  Europe,  are  already 
penetrated  more  or  less,  with  a  restless  instinct  of  their  irresist- 
ible power.  I  know  not  what  the  sentiment  which  impels  these 
terrible  masses  is.  Nor  is  it  at  all  important  what  it  is,  in  the 
first  stages  of  its  impulsion.  The  grand  necessity  of  the  age  is 
satisfied  as  soon  as  it  is  manifest  that  this  Leviathan  lives  by  an 
independent  existence.  It  may  be  impelled  by  patriotism,  by  a 
Jove  of  liberty,  by  a  lust  of  power,  by  a  savage  thirst  for  blood. 


276  MEMORANDA  OF 

Let  it  only  be  impelled  by  some  indwelling  emotion,  some  spring 
of  action  which  the  hands  of  legitimate  tyranny  cannot  touch, 
nor  the  voice  of  hereditary  superstition  lull, — and  then  that  mon- 
ster dies  and  the  world  lives.  If  the  armies  of  the  earth  were 
disbanded,  half  the  earth  would  be  disenthraled  by  the  act.  For 
there  is  no  alternative  but  to  permit  mankind  to  do  as  they  list ; 
or  to  prevent  it  by  the  bayonet.  The  former  is  our  theory ;  the 
latter  that  of  Europe.  But  if  in  Europe  her  only  means  of 
enforcing  her  own  theory  become  more  dangerous  than  to  adopt 
ours,  the  final  result  could  be  no  longer  doubtful.  As  to  the 
fact,  on  this  new  and  deeply  interesting  topic,  I  need  only  remind 
the  reader,  at  the  present  moment,  that  all  the  recent  revolutions 
of  Europe  have  been  emphatically  military  revolutions! 

How  grand  is  the  aspect  of  the  future;  and  how  immense  is 
the  responsibility  laid  upon  those  who  are  in  a  posture  to  control 
it!  The  natural  action  of  the  moral  elements  is  subverting 
already,  or  preparing  for  speedy  dissolution,  all  that  is  not  fit  to 
be  employed  in  the  re-construction  of  society.  This  is  but  the 
first  and  smallest  portion  of  the  work.  It  presents  a  crisis  which 
must  come — which  will  not  abide — and  which  if  lost,  must  be 
waited  for  till  the  lapse  of  another  era,  more  dark  perhaps  than 
that  from  which  we  have  emerged.  It  is  the  very  instant  in 
which  to  prepare  for  the  birth  of  nations.  The  husbandman 
who  stQod  on  the  borders  of  the  Nile,  saw  no  cloud,  and  heard 
no  sound  of  the  coming  waters.  But  he  beheld  on  his  right 
iiand  and  on  his  left,  the  perpetual  memorials  that  the  fertilizing 
streams  would  return  with  the  Virgin  and  Lion  of  his  Zodiac. 
He  looked  upon  the  Sphinx,  and  he  looked  towards  the  heavens  ; 
and  he  prepared  himself  for  the  coming  labour  ;  certain  that  the 
bread  he  cast  upon  the  waters  would  return  again  after  many 
days ;  but  certain  too,  that  if  he  lost  that  season,  he  lost  what 
could  never  be  replaced,  and  to  which  the  like  could  return  only 
in  its  appointed  order.  Behold  the  image  of  our  state,  our  duty, 
our  danger,  and  our  hopes ! 


FOREIGN   TRAVEL.  277 


CHAPTER    XXIX 


Turin  — Police —  Sabbath  Day  Employments  —  Palaces— Churches— Superstition, 
Royal  and  Popular— Association  of  the  Children  of  Mary— Sismondi— Silvio  Pel 
lico — Le  Mie  Prigione. 


The  ancient  Taurini  who  inhabited  the  region  between  the 
Po  and  the  Tanaro,  and  said  to  have  derived  their  appellation 
from  the  figure  of  a  bull,  which  they  used  as  their  ensign  in  war. 
Turin,  or  in  Italian  Toreno,  lays  claim  to  more  classical  author- 
ity for  its  name  ;  and  preserves  still,  an  inscription  which  asserts 
that  it  was  on  the  spot  where  she  stands,  that  Jupiter  first  rest- 
ed, after  carrying  off  Europa  on  his  shoulders,  under  the  form  of 
milk  white  bull.  They  surely  claim  but  Uttle  in  naming  their 
ancestors  and  their  city  for  the  god ;  in  comparison  of  those 
who  name  the  whole  continent  after  his  mistress. 

The  city  itself  is  one  of  the  few  brick  ones  on  the  continent. 
It  belongs  to  the  still  smaller  class  of  cities  regularly  laid  out,  in 
wide,  rectangular  streets.  The  colour  of  the  clay  of  which  the 
bricks  are  made,  gives  a  muddy  appearance  to  the  walls  of  the 
houses ;  and  the  thin  wide  bricks  resembling  tiles,  contrast  badly 
with  the  immense  proportions  of  the  palaces,  churches,  and  rows 
of  hotels,  stores  and  shops,  which  are  constructed  of  them.  On 
the  whole,  it  is  a  fine  looking  city — ornamented  with  several 
spacious  open  squares ;  skirted  by  delightful  promenades ;  and 
its  principal  streets  provided  with  those  fine  coUonades  which 
are  very  common  in  Sardinia,  and  which  form  so  delightful  an 
appurtenance  to  the  Rue  Oastiglione  and  Rue  Rivoli,  in  Paris. 
Vol.  il— 25 


278  MEMORANDA    OF 

The  city  is  almost  square,  and  is  entered  only  by  four  gates^ 
corresponding  with  the  four  cardinal  points.  At  whichever  gate 
the  traveller  seeks  admission,  he  is  questioned  by  the  armed 
police — his  proposed  residence  noted— and  his  passport  taken 
from  him.  For  this  last  he  receives  a  receipt,  which  he  presents 
at  the  proper  bureau  and  receives  his  passport  when  he  is  ready 
to  depart.  I  can  testify,  however,  that  he  does  not  always  get 
back  the  appurtenances  which  accompany  his  passport.  I  had 
provided  for  mine  a  morocco  case,  and  had  the  passport  attached 
to  a  fine  sheet  of  muslin,  and  fastened  firmly  in  the  case.  With- 
out some  such  precaution,  the  constant  handling  of  this  indis- 
pensable companion  of  every  traveller  in  Europe,  soon  reduces 
it  to  a  state  of  ruin.  Mine  had  passed  harmless  through  many 
hands ;  but  the  fine  finish  of  the  case,  and  its  just  proportions 
probably  displeased  the  police  of  Turin.  Far  be  it  from  me  to 
call  in  question  their  honesty.  So  it  was  ;  I  recovered  the  pass- 
port, but  never  the  case.  And  when  I  pointed  out  to  the  head 
of  the  department,  the  proof  of  the  loss,  in  obvious  violence 
which  had  been  necessary  to  separate  the  parts ;  he  honoured 
me  with  a  shrug  of  the  shoulders,  and  a  contortion  of  the  mus- 
taches which  seemed  intended  to  say  that  the  afiair  was  at  once 
very  small,  and  very  common.  I  so  took  it ;  and  simply  observ- 
ed that  as  the  thing  suited  me,  1  Avould  pay  double  its  value,  for 
the  finding  of  it.  The  answer  was  another  shrug  and  contor- 
tion, which  seemed  to  say  that  perquisites  of  this  kind  could 
not  safely  tolerate  either  composition  or  scrutiny.  I  said  to  my- 
self, remember  you  are  in  Italy. 

One  of  the  days  we  spent  in  Turin  was  the  Sabbath  day. 
The  population  generally  seemed  to  regard  the  day,  as  a  day  of 
rest  at  least,  better  than  in  most  parts  of  France — better  perhaps 
than  in  some  parts  of  Switzerland,  Geneva  included.  The 
shops  were  generally  closed ;  public  labour  suspended ;  and  a 
large  part  of  the  people,  especially  females,  inclined  to  devote  a 
portion  of  the  time  to  such  religious  exercises  as  they  have  been 
taught  are  acceptable  to  God.  Two  hours  in  the  forenoon,  and 
two  in  the  afternoon,  are  canonical  in  Geneva.  In  Sardinia  the 
forenoon  only  is  regarded  as  sacred.   After  mid-day,  the  churches 


FOREIGN    TRAVEL.  279 

are  generally  closed — the  people  devote  themselves  to  amuse- 
ment, promenade  the  streets,  fill  the  public  walks  and  gardens, 
resort  to  the  cafes,  theatres,  and  gaming  houses ;  and  commit 
greater  excesses,  than  in  the  remaining  six  days  of  the  week. 
Tiiere  is,  as  far  as  l  could  learn,  no  Protestant  preaching  in  Tu- 
rin, except  that  at  the  Prussian  Embassy ;  and  I  did  not  hear 
of  that,  until  it  was  too  late  to  attend.  The  king  of  Prussia 
pursues  on  this  subject  a  line  of  conduct,  uniform,  and  somewhat 
peculiar;  in  all  cases  attaching  a  Protestant,  and  sometimes  a 
pious  minister  as  chaplain  to  his  embassies.  At  the  present 
moment,  the  chaplain  to  his  embassy  at  Rome,  is  said  to  be  a 
man  of  evangelical  views,  a  faithful  witness  to  the  truth,  in  the 
midst  of  apostacy. 

I  was  not  at  all  favourably  struck  with  the  architecture  or 
decorations  of  the  churches  of  Turin,  any  more  than  of  its  pal- 
aces. The  latter  are  plain  almost  to  meanness  ;  the  former  dis- 
figured by  redundant  and  tasteless  decorations,  and  constructed 
in  a  manner  replete  with  puerile  conceits,  and  destitute  alike  of 
simplicity  and  grandeur.  Every  thing  is  crooked,  gaudy  and 
intricate,  when  an  attempt  at  elegance  is  made  ;  and  when  con- 
venience merely  is  consulted,  they  degenerate  into  meanness  and 
even  dirt.  I  observed  here  for  the  first  time,  large  webs  of  tap- 
estry hung  out  upon  the  fronts  of  a  number  of  the  churches 
during  the  Sabbath  day;  apparently  for  the  more  convenient 
use  of  those  without,  who  can  thus  adore  the  figures  marked  on 
them  without  being  obliged  to  pass  into  the  crowded  churches. 
The  appearance  is  not  unlike  that  of  a  carpet  warehouse,  with 
gaudy  Brussels  and  Turkey  fabrics  depending  from  the  win- 
dows and  hanging  in  festoons  about  the  walls. 

There  are  no  less  than  a  hundred  and  ten  churches  and  chap- 
els in  Turin — all  of  which,  I  believe  without  exception,  have 
some  special  ground  on  which  to  claim  the  peculiar  veneration 
of  the  faithful.  The  cathedral,  dedicated  to  Saint  John  the 
Baptist,  who  by  a  strange  anachronism  has  been  put  into  the 
Calendar  of  St.  Peter's  Disciples,  possesses  a  relic  of  St.  Suaire, 
superbly  set  in  gold  and  jewels,  and  sumptuously  venerated  in  a 
chapel  decorated  with  the  richest  black  marble,  superbly  polished 


280  MEMORANDA    OF 

and  gilded.  The  Consolata  of  the  Feuillans,  has  an  image  of 
the  Virgin,  deemed  singularly  hoi}'  and  efl&cacious,  and  therefore 
adored  by  multitudes  with  peculiar  fervour.  The  Saint  Therisa 
of  the  barefooted  Carmelites,  has  a  sacred  alabaster  figure  of 
Saint  Joseph,  worshipped  under  a  cupola  supported  by  six  mar- 
ble pillars  ;  all  of  different  colours.  I  am  not  informed  in  what 
degree  the  efficacy  of  this  image  is  derived  from  its  curious  and 
variegated  habitation.  In  the  church  of  St.  Philip-di-Neri, 
there  is  a  chapel  adorned  with  a  picture,  the  subject  of  which  I 
cannot  recall ;  but  which  is  literally  imbedded  in  silver  hearts, 
like  the  waxen  ones  I  saw  in  the  cathedral  at  Strasbourg.  I 
made  a  slight  estimate  by  counting  the  number  of  hearts  in  one 
or  two  rows  and  festoons,  and  then  counting  the  number  of  fes- 
toons and  rows.  The  hearts  were  of  very  different  dimensions, 
and  the  strings  of  them  of  every  variety  of  length  and  shape. — 
After  making  all  due  allowance,  I  could  not  estimate  these  votive 
offerings  at  less  than  three  thousand,  in  this  one  small  chapel. 
Amongst  them  were  figures  of  other  portions  of  the  human  body; 
but  these  bore  no  proportion  to  the  number  of  hearts.  Is  this 
to  be  considered  accidental ;  or  is  it  an  evidence  of  the  extent 
to  which  the  "  Adoration  of  the  Sacred  Heart" — has  spread  in 
Piedmont  as  well  as  in  Savoy  ?  These  ex  voto  offerings  were 
exceedingly  common  amongst  the  ancient  Romans;  but  it 
remained  for  those  who  borrowed  all  their  religious  customs,  to 
turn  it,  like  the  rest,  to  a  profitable  account. 

In  the  neighbourhood  of  Turin  are  two  churches  held  in 
peculiar  veneration,  erected  by  two  of  the  kings  of  Sardinia, 
under  very  peculiar  and  somewhat  similar  circumstances — a  cen- 
tury apart — and  both  dedicated  to  the  Virgin  Mary.  At  the  ex- 
tremity of  a  noble  bridge  over  the  Po,  on  the  other  side  from  the 
city,  is  a  rotunda  of  moderate  dimensions,  constructed  after  the 
model  of  the  Pantheon  at  Rome.  It  bears  an  inscription  in  large 
letters,  "  To  the  Great  Mother  of  God"  During  his  exile  the 
late  king,  Victor  Emanuel,  made  a  vow  to  the  Virgin  Mary,  that 
if  she  would  give  him  back  his  crown  he  would  build  her  a  church. 
In  1814  he  found  himself  seated  again  on  his  absolute  throne  ;  and 
redeemed  his  vow,  by  erecting  this  church.     At  the  distance  of 


FOREIGN   TRAVEL.  281 

two  miles  from  Turin,  seated  on  a  lofty  mountain,  is  the  rich 
and  costly  church  of  Superga.  For  many  miles  in  most  direc- 
tions it  presents  a  grand  object  to  the  traveller,  as  he  approaches 
or  departs  from  Turin.  Towards  the  west,  as  far  as  Rivoli  ten 
miles  off  on  the  side  of  Mont  Cenis,  its  white  walls  are  seen 
with  perfect  distinctness ;  and  towards  the  south,  1  thought  I 
could  discern  it  distinctly  at  the  distance  of  a  day's  journey  over 
the  plains  of  Piedmont.  A  tablet  at  this  church  expresses  that 
when  the  French  beseiged  Turin,  in  1706,  the  then  reigning 
King,  Victor  Amedius,  vowed  to  the  Virgin  Mary  a  superb 
church,  if  she  would  cause  the  French  to  raise  the  seige.  She 
did  so,  says  the  record  ;  and  the  faithful  king  not  only  built  the 
church,  but  erected  a  statue  to  her,  which  the  faithful  might  ven- 
erate as  the  most  acceptable  homage  to  the  protectress  of  the 
city.  The  French  Marshal  Villars,  on  being  shown  this  image, 
drily  observed,  "  I  had  no  idea  the  Virgin  Mary  so  nearly 
resembled  the  Duchess  of  Burgoine  i"  whose  share  in  raising 
the  seige  of  Turin,  is  reputed  to  have  been  fully  equal  to  the 
Virgin's, 

In  such  a  country,  and  with  such  a  patronage  of  idolatry  and 
superstition,  there  can  surely  be  no  wonder  that  the  knowledge 
of  the  true  God  is  almost  extinct  amongst  the  people ;  nor  that 
a  most  extraordinary  system,  of  which  the  Virgin  Mary  is  the 
head,  has  supplanted  all  true  religion.  In  1814  we  see  the  idol- 
atry of  1706  reiterated  in  the  same  place,  by  the  successor  to 
the  throne  of  the  same  kingdom;  the  only  difference  being  that 
the  latter  period,  attributed  to  a  dead  female  all  the  power  and 
providence  of  a  vast  and  complicated  series  of  events,  instead 
of  one  single  and  rather  subordinate  action,  referred  to  her  by 
the  earlier  of  the  two.  In  the  year  1799,  the  Aretines  in  Tus- 
cany rose  against  the  French,  raised  an  army  of  twenty-five 
thousand  men,  appointed  the  Virgin  Mary  generalissima,  and 
entered  Florence  in  triumph,  headed  by  Signora  Mari.  Such 
was  their  dependence  on^the  divine  guidance  of  the  Virgin,  that 
four  hundred  Aretines  marched  to  Prato  Antico,  and  gave  bat- 
tle to  seven  thousand  of  Napolean's  veterans !  This  is  only 
thirty-seven  years  ago,  being  nearly  synchronous  with  the  period 
25* 


282  MEMORANDA    OF 

in  which  the  Lazaroni  of  Naples  broiled  and  ate  those  whom 
they  called  Jacobins,  in  the  name  of  the  Pope  and  the  blessed 
Virgin.    In  the  instant  in  which  I  write,  a  powerful  nation  is 
deluged  with  civil  blood,  shed  by  armies,  of  which  one  has  for- 
mally recognized  "our  Lady  los  Dolores,"  as  commander-in- 
chief— thereto  appointed  by  a  royal  decree.     Spain  is  desolated 
by  troops  whose  king  openly  avows  that  his  only  hope  of  regain- 
ing his  throne  is  based  on  the  favour  of  the  Virgin  Mary ;  and 
whose  royal  standard  is  nothing  else  than  a  lady's  undergarment ! 
This  worship  of  the  Virgin  which  has  been  so  long  insensibly 
usurping  the  place  of  all  others  in  the  Romish  church,  or  insin- 
uating itself  into  a  participation  with  all  that  can  stand  its  ground 
against  it,  is  at  length  fully  organized.     It  will  probably  pervade 
the  entire  apostacy  in  form,  as  well  as  in  fact.    An  immense 
organization  calling  themselves  the   "  Children  of  Mary" — is 
already  formed  over  the  whole  world.    Its  inception  is  not  very 
recent;  but  it  was  only  in  1816,  if  my  memory  is  accurate,  that 
the  Pope  formally  recognized  it  by  a  bull,  and  favoured  it  at 
once  with  privileges  and  strong  recommendations  to  the  faithful. 
The  month  of  May  is  devoted  by  them  in  a  peculiar  manner,  to 
the  service  of  the  Virgin.     They  have  modes  of  recognition ; 
keep  special  images  of  Mary  for  private  worship ;  bind  them- 
selves to  strive  for  the  extension  of  their  order  and  the  total 
conversion  of  the  world   to  it;  and  being  of    CJltra-Montaine 
or  Italian  origin,  the  order  like  that  of  the  worship  of  the  human 
heart  of  Jesus  and  Mary,  is  thoroughly  devoted  to  the  princi- 
ples, if  not  to  the  party  of  the  Jesuits.     I  saw  in  Italy  and  France, 
hymn  books  in  honour  of  Mary,  in  the  hands  of  the  young ;  and 
more  grave  expositions  for  persons  more  advanced.     I  repeat 
what  I  have  before  had  occasion  to  say ;  the  Virgin  Mary  is  the 
real  object  of  the  religious  worship  of  European  Papists.    On 
ancient  works  the  initials  J.  O.  M.  and  J.  R.  are  often  met  with  ; 
signifying  Jupiter,  Optimus,  Maximus,  and  Juno  Rep^ina;  Jupi- 
ter, the  Benificent,  the  Almighty;  Juno,  the  Queen,    In  the  three 
first  initials  the  Papists  make  no  change,  but  simply  supply  the 
word  Jupiter,  with  the  word  Jesus ;  and  so  use  the  initial  at  the 
present  day.    But  more  frequently  they  change  the  first  letter, 


I 


FOREIGN   TRAVEL.  283 

by  inserting  D  or  P,  in  the  place  of  J  :  in  the  former  case  the 
D  standing  for  Deuij  (God,)  and  in  the  latter  for  Pontifex, 
(High  Priest,  Pope).  We  may  therefore  substitute  one  word 
in  the  famous  line  "Jehovah,  Jove  or  Lord,"  and  make  it  read, 
*'  Pope,  Jove,  Jehovah,  Lord  ;" — and  the  "  Universal  Prayer" 
will  in  this  assert  a  particular  historical  truth,  if  not  a  universal 
theological  one.  In  the  second  series  of  initials,  they  only 
change  the  first,  so  as  to  Make  it  Mary  instead  o^  Juno  ;  and  so 
use  it  M.  R.  In  effect,  the  slightest  observation  will  show  any 
one,  how  incessantly  the  epithet  "  Queen''  is  applied  to  Mary, 
in  all  her  liturgies,  and  by  all  her  eulogists.  And  even  where 
this  form  cannot  possibly  be  used,  it  is  supplied  by  the  initials  A. 
M. — jive  Maria — Hail  Mary  ;  which  indicate  the  dedication 
of  more  churches  and  altars  to  her,  than  to  all  "  the  Lords 
many  and  Gods  many" — of  their  Calendar.  Now  let  me  in 
the  fear  of  God  ask  this  plain  question :  can  any  man  with 
an  honest  conscience  call  that  system  Christian,  in  which  these 
elements  enter?  If  not,  what  ought  Christians  to  do,  to  save 
those  who  are  under  the  bonds  of  delusion,  and  to  hinder  its 
further  spread? 

I  have  mentioned  incidentally  the  name  of  Silvio  Pellico.  I 
was  deprived  of  the  happiness  of  seeing  him  at  Turin",  as  I  had 
before  been  at  Geneva  of  meeting  with  Sismondi.  They  were 
both  absent ;  or  rather  the  latter  was  residing  near  Pavia ;  the 
former  is  not,  as  I  had  been  informed,  a  resident  of  Turin,  but 
of  a  village  some  leagues  off.  Sismondi  is  one  of  the  most 
voluminous  writers  of  this  age :  Silvio  Pellico  has  published 
little  that  I  know  of,  beyond  a  single  small  volume.  And  yet, 
with  all  the  just  fame  of  the  Genevese  historian  and  philosopher, 
a  fame  which  is  well  deserved,  and  will  increase  with  time ;  I 
am  ready  to  place  the  modest  and  oppressed  Italian  by  his  side, 
as  one  of  the  most  remarkable  men  who  has  illustrated  the  pres- 
ent generation.  I  believe  no  single  book  Avhich  this  century  has 
produced,  has  exerted  a  greater  influence  and  is  destined  to 
have  a  larger  share  in  fashioning  the  ideas  of  Europe,  than  Le 
Mie  Prigiotie  (My  Prisons)  of  Silvio  Pellico.  The  victim  of 
Austrian  hatred  of  liberty,  he  suffered  for  ten  years  all  the  vex- 


284  MEMORANDA.  OF 

ations,  oppressions  and  insults  of  a  rigorous  confinement  in 
various  prisons,  for  no  alleged  crime,  nor  by  reason  of  any  for- 
mal conviction  ;  but  on  suspicion,  and  by  way  of  detention  ! — 
His  little  volume  reveals  the  history  of  his  own  heart,  and  tells 
the  story  of  the  miserable  partakers  of  his  various  captivities. 
And  what  a  story  it  is  !  Modest,  grave,  candid  :  full  of  pathos, 
full  of  dignity  ;  without  a  word  of  reproach  or  bitterness  against 
the  oppressor  and  the  unjust ;  eloquent  for  the  sorrows  of  all 
other  sufferers,  and  pitiful  for  those  whose  very  crimes  break  our 
hearts ;  but  as  to  lis  own  severe  trials,  recording  them  only  as 
causes  or  illustrations  of  his  mental  experience.  To  write  a 
book  which  is  in  all  respects  so  remarkable,  a  man  should  be  at 
once  a  poet,  a  philosopher,  and  a  Christian.  And  such  1  am 
persuaded  is  Silvio  Pellico. 

Le  Mie  Prigione  has  already  passed  through  five  French  edi- 
tions— and  been  translated  both  into  English  and  German.  I 
am  not  aware  of  its  having  been  re-published  in  America.  I 
had  never  seen  it  till  my  ItaHan  master  in  Paris  put  it  into  my 
hands :  and  as  we  read  it  together,  I  cannot  venture  to  estimate 
the  number  of  times  that  the  depth  of  our  emotions  arrested  for 
a  moment  the  progress  of  our  studies.  It  is  no  mean  tribute  to 
a  book,  that  in  a  use  like  this,  its  power  over  the  heart  should  be 
so  strongly  manifest.  Yet  such  is  its  extraordinary  forbearance 
and  gentleness,  that  not  only  Sardinia,  but  Austria  and  all  Italy, 
except  the  states  of  the  Pope,  permit  its  free  circulation.  The 
Congregation  of  the  Index  Prohibitorius,  under  the  eye  of  the 
Sovereign  Pontiff,  prohibits  the  circulation  of  it,  in  the  pontifi- 
cal states.  The  same  authority  which  imprisoned  Gallileo,  and 
forced  him  in  view  of  the  stake  to  retract  his  sublime  discoveries 
in  science,  and  swear  on  the  holy  Sacrament  that  the  earth  was 
flat  and  stationary,  and  that  the  sun  revolved  around  it ;  the  same 
terrible  spirit  which  disinterred  and  dishonoured  the  sacred  dust 
of  John  Wiklif,  because  he  taught  that  a  man  should  believe 
his  own  senses ;  and  burnt  John  Huss  for  asserting  the  right  of 
private  judgment :  the  same  tribunal  which  taught,  as  it  says  of 
God,  has  so  long  chosen  for  the  faithful  both  their  books  and 
their  victuals ;  that  authority,  spirit,  and  tribunal,  have  passed 


FOREIGN   TRAVEL.  285 

upon  Silvio  Pellico,  and  consigned  his  beautiful  production  to 
everlasting  fame — by  placing  it  in  a  like  condemnation  with  the 
most  exquisite  performances  of  all  past  times.  I  am  not  sure 
that  if  I  were  asked  for  a  selection  of  the  best  books  that  had 
been  written  in  all  ages— I  could  do  better  than  copy  the  list 
which  the  Papal  church  has  prohibited. 


( 


286 


MEMORANDA    OF 


CHAPTER  XXX 


Gallery  of  the  King  at  Turin— Egyptian  Museum— Champollion— Reflections  on  the 
Hieroglyphical  System— Hieroglypliical  Spirit  Inherent  in  all  Language— Mum- 
mies—Egyptian  Civilization— Illustration  of  Prophecy— Quarantine  Regulations — 
Anotlier Change  of  Route— Espionage— Social  State— Emeute— Feverish  Condi- 
tion of  Society. 


The  King  of  Sardinia  has  a  Gallery  of  Paintings,  which  is 
said  to  possess  an  extensive  and  superb  collection  of  the  Flem- 
ish School.  It  is  justly  considered  one  of  the  most  interesting 
objects  in  Turin.  I  did  not  find  opportunity  to  see  it  in  the  only 
way  in  which  such  an  object  can  be  said  to  have  been  seen. 
One  had  almost  as  well  not  see  the  great  works  of  art,  as  to  be 
obliged  to  run  over  them,  as  a  child  turns  over  a  port  folio, 
knowing  only  by  their  titles,  that  he  has  passed  the  objects  by. 
He  who  has  spent  days  and  weeks  in  the  galleries  of  Europe, 
for  example  in  that  of  the  Louvre,  growing  into  the.very  spirit  of 
the  great  dead,  by  the  intense  and  enthusiastic  study  of  their 
works ;  acquires  imperceptibly  a  feeling  towards  pictures  a-kin 
to  that  which  the  most  precious  living  objects  engender ;  and  so 
passes  them  by  when  they  come  within  his  reach,  only  under 
strong  necessity,  and  then  with  a  sense  of  privation,  of  which 
the  uncultivated  spirit  has  no  conception.  For  my  part,  I  hardly 
doubt  the  story  of  that  Roman  maiden,  who  is  said  to  have  died 
of  love  at  the  feet  of  the  Apollo  Belvidere. 

There  is  here  also  an  Egyptian  Museum,  the  most  complete 
and  various  in  Europe;  collected  and  arranged  by  the  predecessor 
of  the  present  king,  at  a  cost  of  three  hundred  thousand  francs. 


FOREIGN   TRAVEL.  287 

Amongst  these  monuments  of  long  forgotten  generations, — 
ChampoUion^  the  renowned  expositor  of  the  hieroglyphical  sys- 
tem of  Egypt,  spent  days  and  months  of  intense  and  enthusi- 
astic labour.  It  was  here  that  he  found  or  forced  some  of  the 
most  striking  proofs  of  his  previous  conjectures  ;  and  the  beetles, 
and  bulls,  and  birds,  before  whose  intricate  forms  the  savans  of 
Europe  had  so  long  turned  pale,  stood  revealed  to  the  fervid 
imagination  of  the  triumphant  Frenchman,  in  their  double  capa- 
city as  at  once  the  Gods,  and  the  keys  of  thought,  to  that  re- 
markable people.  It  seems  to  me  that  nothing  is  easier  than  for 
a  man  to  make  just  what  he  pleases,  out  of  any  system  of  hiero- 
glyphics ;  or  on  the  other  hand,  to  make  a  system  of  hieroglyph- 
ics out  of  any  thing  he  chooses  to  light  on.  The  only  requis- 
ite is,  that  there  should  be  previous  system  in  the  thing  explain- 
ed ;  and  a  pre-conceived  system  to  be  supported.  Thus,  Baron. 
Swedenburg,  having  resolved  that  he  would  find  a  certain  spirit- 
ual and  interior  sense  in  Scripture,  which  should  be  perfectly 
coherent  in  itself,  and  reveal  the  future  in  a  more  full  manner 
than  other  modes  of  exposition  ;  had  need  only  to  say  that  every 
leading  word  of  the  Scripture,  meant  a  leading  word  of  his  own 
system,  and  the  two  were  as  certain  to  coincide,  as  a  man's  coat 
cut  precisely  to  his  measure  is  certain  to  fit  him.  Now  he  who 
takes  the  hieroglyphics,  and  makes  a  system,  has  only  to  reverse 
this  order,  and  make  the  man  to  the  coat ;  as  it  is  not  impossible 
Champollion  has  done ;  in  practising  a  delusion  more  innocent, 
but  possibly  not  less  real,  than  thai  of  Swedenburg.  What 
renders  this  somewhat  probable,  is,  that  several  opposite  systems 
for  explaining  hieroglyphics,  seem  equally  to  eflect  the  mere 
object  of  explanation,  but  to  result  in  expositions  widely  differ- 
ent ;  a  result  not  only  necessary,  on  the  principle  I  have  stated 
above,  but  explanatory  of  it. 

It  is  not,  however,  insinuated,  that  all  attempts  to  explain  the 
Egyptian  hieroglyphics  have  been  either  delusive  or  deceptive  ; 
nor  in  particular  have  I  any  intention  of  asserting  that  the  system 
of  Champollion,  is  either  the  one  or  the  other.  I  am  rather 
inclined  to  the  opinion  that  it  is  neither.  And  not  the  less  so, 
that  the  results  of  his  explanations  are  comparatively  so  poor 


288  MEMORANDA   OF 

and  barren.  For  it  is  hardly  conceivable  that  a  man  like  Cham- 
pollion  would  devote  his  life  to  a  phantom,  which  he  very  soon 
perceived  would  end  its  nothing,  except  the  unravelling  of  a 
mystery,  important  only  because  it  was  hidden ;  unless  he  was 
not  only  satisfied,  but  satisfied  on  good  grounds,  that  he  was 
guided  by  truth.  The  results  are  too  barren  for  fiction ;  and 
they  correspond  so  nearly  in  their  insignificance,  with  precisely 
similar  inscriptions,  in  every  intervening  age  down  to  our  own ; 
that  he  who  will  read  any  series  of  monumental  records,  whether 
in  books  or  in  church-^^ards,  will  see  great  reason  to  think  that 
these  which  have  survived  so  many  attacks  of  time,  are  at  length 
truly  expounded.  For  it  is  more  difl&cult  to  find  a  reason  which 
should  place  the  worshippers  of  birds,  and  beasts,  and  creeping 
things, — in  this  respect,  above  those  devoted  to  a  more  reason- 
able idolatry,  or  a  pure  worship ;  than  to  receive  even  the  im- 
probable, or  useless  speculations  of  the  ingenious  and  learned. 

Our  opinions  on  such  subjects,  as  on  many  others,  are  ex- 
tremely  liable  to  be  influenced  generally  by  the  course  of  our  own 
previous  studies.  This  subject  is  in  its  very  nature  philolo- 
gical ;  and  a  man  who  has  had  occasion  to  make  himself  ac- 
quainted only  with  some  of  the  languages  which  have  prevailed 
in  western  Europe,  from  the  Greeks  downwards ;  would  probably 
be  in  a  very  different  temper  of  mind,  in  deciding  in  regard  to 
it,  from  another  who  had  studied  some  of  the  utterly  different 
Shemitish  tongues.  He  who  will  compare  the  French  with  the 
Hebrew,  is  ready  to  admit  almost  any  thing  which  may  be  de- 
manded of  his  credulity  in  regard  to  llie  structure  of  human 
speech.  And  if  what  they  tell  us  of  the  Chinese  of  our  own 
day  be  true,  I  see  in  it  and  dialects  kindred  to  it,  every  thing  so 
remote  from  both  the  families  of  languages  before  spoken  of  that 
I  am  ready  to  believe  any  thing  Champollion  could  assert  of  the 
mystical  language  of  Egypt.  And  really  why  not  ?  Every  sys- 
tem of  telegraphic  signs  is  a  hieroglyphical  system  ;  and  these  sys- 
tems both  by  flags  and  characters  are  now  extremely  cofnraon 
and  complete.  Most  systems  of  short-hand  writing  are  the  same  : 
mathematical  signs  compose  a  singularly  perfect  system :  the 
arithmetical  figures  in  constant  use  are  another :  and  the  Roman 


FOEEIGN   TRAVEL.  289 

characters  afford  an  instance  of  the  double  use  contended  for  in 
the  Egyptian  figures,  for  we  use  them  both  as  letters  and  numer- 
als. By  the  way  let  me  say,  we  have  as  completely  lost  the 
method  of  written  calculation  by  the  Roman,  Greek,  and  He- 
brew numerals,  as  we  have  that  of  construeing  the  Egyptian 
signs.  Let  any  man  attempt  to  go  through  the  simplest  arith- 
metical process  in  writing,  by  the  aid  of  any  of  these  numerals, 
and  he  will  see  at  once  that  we  have  lost  the  art ;  if  indeed  it 
ever  existed,  except  as  a  mental  process. 

The  truth  is,  that  what  we  call  the  figurative  use  of  words 
approaches  very  nearly  to  a  hieroglyphical  system.  And  there 
is  here  another  somewhat  similar  peculiarity  of  language,  which 
reveals  one  of  its  greatest  difficulties,  and  shows  at  the  same 
moment  the  strong  tendency  of  all  language  to  what  may  be 
called  the  independent  or  hieroglyphical,  in  its  component  parts. 
See  the  use  of  the  smallest  particles ;  we  say  "  a  man  of  cour- 
age"— then  we  say  "  one  of  them."  In  one  of  these  sentences, 
of  J  is  descriptive  ;  in  the  other  paritive  ;  and  so  small  is  the  afiin  • 
ity  of  the  two  senses,  that  he  who  first  learns  one  sense  of  the 
particle,  is  confounded  when  he  comes  to  the  knowledge  of  the 
other.  But  these  difficulties  multiply  themselves  indefinitely. 
We  say,  *'  he  obtained  it  of  me,"  giving  it  a  strong  transitive 
sense.  Then  we  say,  *'  I  am  deprived  of  hope" — making  the 
privitive  sense  equally  strong.  He  who  has  attempted  to  ac- 
quire any  foreign  language  so  as  to  express  his  ideas  in  it  rapidly, 
is  not  only  sensible  of  the  tendency  in  him=5elf  to  give  fixation  to 
the  sense  of  words,  and  a  strong  and  constant  reluctance  to  use 
them  in  any  but  what  seems  to  him  the  prime  sense :  but  he  is  also 
surprised  to  find  in  every  word,  an  inherent  power  of  combina- 
tion, and  a  facility  of  independent,  separate,  may  I  not  add  hie- 
roglyphic meaning  and  action,  which  give  to  language  so  large 
a  part  of  its  flexibility  and  variety.  These  suggestions  may  be 
of  little  use,  in  regard  to  their  main  intent.  But  they  seem  to 
me  to  afford  a  clear  and  strong  argument  against  all  quackery  in 
learning  languages ;  and  especially  against  the  very  prevailing 
one  of  memorising  arbitrary  phrases,  as  a  substitute  for  an  exact 
knowledge  of  peculiar  forms. 
Vol.  n.— 26 


290  MEMORANDA    OF 

Before  the  expeditiow  of  Napoleon  into  Egypt,  mummies  were 
regarded  as  great  rarities  in  every  part  of  the  world.  I  distinct- 
ly reraeraber,  even  fifteen  or  twenty  years  after  that  era,  the 
finding  of  a  human  body  in  a  saltpetre  cave  in  Kentucky ;  and 
the  strong  and  universal  emotion  which  the  exhibition  of  the 
imperfect  and  hideous  object  produced.  Even  at  present,  mum- 
mies in  a  state  of  perfect  preservation  are  not  common  in  Amer- 
ica. In  every  part  of  Europe  it  is  quite  the  reverse.  Two  or 
three  of  them  form  a  part  of  the  smallest  museums  ;  and  they 
stand  by  scores,  about  the  halls  of  those  more  extensive.  It  is 
said  that  a  regular  trade  has  been  carried  on  in  the  interior  of 
Egypt,  in  this  extraordinary  species  of  merchandise,  since  the 
French  savans  began  to  ransack  the  catacombs  and  reveal  the 
boundless  extent  of  their  treasures.  The  price  is  as  regularly 
fixed  as  that  of  grain ;  and  at  Cairo  or  Rosetta,  the  peasants 
will  bring  in  to  order  kings,  or  priests,  or  nobles,  who  have 
ceased  to  live  in  the  flesh  some  thousands  of  years,  attached  to 
their  backs  like  sacks  of  wheat — and  sold  by  poll,  at  fifteen  francs 
each. 

This  whole  subject  is  worthy  of  the  more  consideration,  on 
account  of  the  remarkable  and  perpetual  tests  which  the  history 
and  condition  of  Egypt  afford,  by  which  to  try  the  word  of  God. 
I  do  not  remember  that  God  ever  said  of  any  country,  except 
Egypt,  that  it  should  be  perpetually  degraded  and  enslaved.  He 
said  this  of  her,  and  said  it  against  ail  possible  calculations  of 
human  wisdom.  For  lier  local  situation  rendered  her  the  strong- 
est and  the  most  secluded  of  all  nations.  He  said  it  at  the  most 
improbable  of  ail  times ;  for  it  was  when  she  who  was  first,  was 
also  most  I'amous  in  arts,  letters  and  power.  To  perpetuate 
the  knowledge  of  what  she  really  was,  he  permitted  his  own 
chosen  people  to  be  ground  down  in  slavery,  that  their  hands 
might  upbuild  on  the  spot  itseUj  the  most  stupendous  monuments 
of  power  and  riches  that  the  world  contains.  And  then  came 
nation  after  nation,  and  conqueror  on  the  heels  of  conqueror. 
Then  fell  stroke  after  stroke;  and  Egypt,  through  countless 
centuries  lay  perishing  under  the  fiat  of  Jehovah.  Time  weak- 
ened the  power  of  this  proof.    In  the  raidst  of  the  apostacy  of 


1 


\ 


FOREIGN    TRAVEL.  291 

the  world,  God  selected  the  only  nation  avowedly  Atheist — and 
allowed  her  to  precipitate  upon  Egypt,  resistless  armies  led  by 
heroes,  nursed  in  victory,  and  accompanied  by  the  most  profound 
and  elegant  philosophers  of  their  lime.  Witness  the  result. 
The  destiny  of  Egypt  written  in  that  word  more  enduring  than 
earth  and  sky,  is  only  stiffened  into  a  more  rigid  and  death-like 
fixedness.  But  at  the  same  moment  her  unknown  monuments 
are  revealed — her  vast  ruins  explored — her  majestic  fragments 
turned  up  to  the  light  of  heaven.  And  now,  there  is  no  spot 
in  Europe  which  is  not  replete  with  monuments,  to  prove  that 
the  ancient  grandeur  of  Egypt  was  as  extraordinary  as  her 
present  degradation.  In  the  Basilica  of  St.  Peter's  at  Rome, 
stands  one  of  her  Obelisks;  in  the  Place  of  Concord  at  Paris, 
I  saw  them  in  the  process  of  setting  up  a  second,  which  had 
stood  countless  ages  by  the  Nile ;  and  England,  it  is  said,  is 
seeking  a  third  as  one  of  her  chiefest  ornaments.  The  richest 
apartments  of  the  grand  museums  of  the  earth  are  full  of  Egyp- 
tian marbles  ;  the  most  chaste  and  enduring  monuments  of  arch- 
itectural beauty,  have  derived  their  first  conceptions  from  the 
temples  of  these  dead  priests,  and  the  palaces  of  these  withered 
and  blackened  kings,  into  whose  ghastly  faces  children  gaze 
unmoved,  in  lands  remote  from  their  sepulture — and  about  the 
monumental  details  of  whose  occupations  and  descent,  scholars 
fill  the  world  with  the  painful  and  laborious  trifles  of  learning  ! 
Egypt  as  she  was,  and  as  she  is,  separated  by  the  widest  interval 
which  divides  human  conditions,  lives  forever,  side  by  side ;  and 
challenges  the  world  through  all  ages,  to  behold  how  true  is  God 
— and  how  fearful  a  thing  it  is  to  lall  into  his  hands. 

One  principal  object  of  our  going  to  Turin,  instead  of  cross- 
ing the  Alps  from  Geneva  to  Milan  by  the  Semplon,  was 
entirely  defeated.  We  had  been  informed,  as  we  supposed  on 
sufficient  authority,  that  the  way  to  Rome  through  Sardinia  was 
open;  while  that  by  the  Lombard  Venetian  states  continued 
shut,  by  long  and  repeated  quarantines.  This  seemed  the  more 
to  be  relied  on,  as  the  cholera  was  still  raging  on  the  shores  of 
the  Adriatic,  and  had  hardly  ceased  in  the  Milanese,  but  had 
not  existed  at  all  for  many  months  in  any  part  of  Sardinia,  ex- 


292  MEMORANDA   OF 

cept  the  city  of  Genoa.  When  we  reached  Turin,  we  found 
that  the  whole  kingdom  of  Sardinia  was  considered  infected,  by 
the  Papal  authorities  ;  and  that  a  quarantine  of  eighteen  days, 
shut  up  in  the  chamber  of  a  lazaretto,  with  a  soldier  at  the  door 
watching  to  see  if  you  Avould  not  have  cholera,  must  be  submit- 
ted to  by  all  who  would  pass  directly  from  one  to  the  other. 
The  Grand  Duke  of  Tuscany,  for  the  sake  of  keeping  his  states 
in  full  communication  with  those  of  the  Pope,  arranges  his  quar- 
antines precisely  as  the  former  does  his :  and  as  the  territories  of 
the  two  extend  entirely  across  the  peninsula,  there  remained  no 
possibility  of  penetrating  Italy  directly,  except  on  conditions  as 
insupportable  as  they  are  absurd  and  barbarous.  It  is  at  least  a 
consolation  that  the  superstition  and  ignorance  of  the  Papal 
authorities,  by  making  their  proceedings  ridiculous ;  and  their 
extraordinary  timidity  by  rendering  them  contemptible ;  will  tend 
to  bring  the  whole  quarantine  system  with  its  vexations  and 
inhumanity  into  the  universal  odium,  which  ought  to  attach  to 
it.  Leaving  out  of  the  question  the  certainty  that  very  few 
diseases  are  contagious,  and  that  of  these  few,  hardly  one  is 
really  capable  of  being  reached  by  any  sort  of  quarantine  regu- 
lations; what  can  be  more  admirably  calculated  to  give  a  man 
every  sort  of  disease,  which  is  not  contagious,  than  to  shut  him 
up  amid  the  filth,  bad  air,  and  horrid  accommodations  of  tempo- 
rary hospitals— that  he  may  be  watched  for  weeks  together,  lo 
see  if  he  wont  die  ?  I  had  knowledge  in  my  childhood  of  a  singu- 
lar proof  of  the  power  of  the  imagination  over  a  man  in  perfect 
health,  and  under  circumstances  but  little  calculated  to  aid  its  de- 
lusions ;  which  sufficiently  proves  v/hat  it  might  do,  if  helped  by 
causes,  as  injurious  as  its  own  vagaries-  A  traveller  who  passed 
the  night  at  the  hotel  of  a  village  in  which  one  of  our  colleges  is 
located  ;  was  unfortunate  enough  to  offend  some  of  the  younger 
students,  who  for  purposes  of  their  own,  were  spending  at  the 
same  hotel,  hours  that  might  have  been  better  employed  else- 
where. They  resolved  on  being  revenged.  And  after  the 
traveller  had  retired  to  rest,  one  of  them  crept  into  his  room 
—carried  off  his  vest— sewed  up  a  large  tuck  down  the  back — 
replaced  it— and  then  they  unitedly  gave  the  alarm  of  fire,  with 


FOREIGN   TRAVEL.  293 

all  their  might.  As  was  foreseen,  the  stranger  arose  and  hastily- 
dressed  himself;  the  house  was  all  confusion ;  the  alarm  proved 
to  be  false.  When  matters  had  a  little  subsided,  one  of  the  lads 
obserred  to  the  stranger  that  he  looked  very  much  swollen. 
He  took  little  notice  of  the  remark ;  but  as  his  attention  was 
directed  that  way,  tried  to  button  his  vest.  He  found  it  would 
not  button !  The  boys  regarded  him  with  surprise,  and  appa- 
rent interest ;  sympathised  with  his  deplorable  state ;  bewailed 
his  alarming  increase  of  bulk,  and  urgently  proffered  their  servi- 
ces to  bring  in  the  village  physician.  In  short,  it  became  a 
serious  affair.  The  stranger  became  alarmed ;  he  nauseated,  he 
became  giddy,  his  pulse  throbbed,  his  skin  tingled  ;  and  when 
the  medical  man  arrived,  prompt  and  decided  measures  were 
considered  indispensable !  How  far  matters  would  have  gone, 
it  may  be  hard  to  say ;  as  the  whole  affair  was  solved  by  one 
of  the  lads  revealing  the  tuck  in  the  back  of  the  vest ! 

Shut  out  from  farther  approach  to  Rome  by  land,  it  only 
remained  to  seek  a  continuance  of  our  proposed  journey  by 
water.  We  turned  our  steps  directly  south,  towards  the  Medi- 
terranean ;  hoping  to  be  able  to  reach  Naples  or  Civitta  Vecchia 
from  Nice  or  Geneva,  by  one  of  the  numerous  steam  boats, 
which  bring  so  nigh  together  the  ports  of  that  great  inland  sea. 

The  night  of  the  25th  of  October,  1836,  the  last  one  we 
spent  in  Turin,  was  signalised  by  a  multitude  of  simultaneous 
arrests,  not  only  in  that  city,  but  throughout  Sardinia.  It  was 
not  mentioned  at  all,  that  I  ever  saw,  in  any  of  the  Sardinian 
newspapers ;  and  was  communicated  to  those  of  adjoining  king- 
doms only  in  general  terms,  through  private  sources.  For  the 
press  and  the  post  office  are  equally,  but  in  different  ways  under 
the  surveillance  of  the  government.  Indeed  the  system  of  espi- 
onage exceeds  all  that  can  be  credited,  by  a  simple  minded 
American.  Persons  in  every  condition  of  life  from  the  highest 
nobility  and  clergy  down  to  street  beggars  and  waiters  in  hotels, 
are  spies  in  the  pay  of  the  state.  No  relations  of  society  are 
so  sacred  as  to  resist  such  attempts;  and  as  the  Inquisition 
makes  it  a  religious  duty  in  the  child  to  inform  against  the  pa- 
rent, and  in  the  wife  to  denounce  her  husband ;  the  govern* 
26* 


294 


MEMORANDA    OF 


ments  of  tyrants  only  turn  this  moral  precept  into  practice,  and 
reward  the  performance  of  virtue,  by  bestowing  the  recompense 
it  has  won.  Not  a  little  of  the  treacherous,  deceitful,  suspicious, 
cruel,  and  cowardly  character  which  other  Europeans  attribute 
to  the  Italians,  may  undoubtedly  be  traced  to  the  terrible  influ- 
ences directed  against  them  by  their  governments.  How  shall 
he  confide  in  religion  or  honour,  whose  king,  the  source  of  honour 
as  Montesquieu  affirms,  reigns  by  trampling  on  all  its  precepts ; 
and  whose  priests,  the  ministers  of  his  religion,  practice  and 
teach  the  violation  of  the  most  sacred  laws  of  morality  ?  How 
shall  he  trust  to  friendship  or  to  the  ties  of  nature,  whose  wife 
is  the  mistress  of  his  friend — his  children  of  doubtful  parentage, 
— and  friend,  wife  and  child,  mutually  spies  upon  each  other  and 
upon  him  ?  Spies,  whose  devotion  consists  in  revealing  at  the 
confessional,  every  thing  that  most  nearly  touches  him,  to  the 
priest ;  and  who  derive  at  once  indemnity,  power,  and  wealth, 
from  betraying  him  to  the  state  ?  We  may  abhor  the  crimes  of 
Italy,  and  turn  with  disgust  from  many  aspects  of  the  national 
character  of  its  people.  But  we  should  never  forget  tliat  these 
unhappy  men  are  the  victims  of  a  most  cruel  destiny;  nor  cease 
to  abhor  with  a  double  fervour  that  which  has  made  them  what 
they  are.  In  good  truth,  no  nation  has  suffered  more,  none 
perhaps  has  resisted  the  influences  of  social  and  national  corrup- 
tion, with  a  more  abiding  and  devoted  spirit. 

These  arrests  were  said  to  have  been  made  in  consequence  of 
information  communicated  by  the  government  of  France,  to 
that  of  Sardinia ;  and  which  revealed  a  conspiracy  of  vast  ex- 
tent, ramified  through  both  of  those  kingdoms,  and  several 
others.  Its  first  explosion  was  to  have  been  in  Sardinia  ;  hence, 
as  was  alleged,  the  first  arrests  were  made  there.  They  who  pay 
any  attention  to  such  rumours  fabricated  and  put  in  circulation 
by  the  agents  of  the  governments  themselves — will  soon  find 
how  little  credit  they  deserve.  But  if  they  search  deeper,  they 
will  find  that  every  despotic  government  of  Europe,  and  all 
others  that  would  gladly  become  so  ,•  not  only  have  spies  in  every 
conspiracy  against  themselves,  but  that  they  have  absolutely 
excited  most  of  the  mad  attempts  which  have  signalized  the  last 


FOREIGN   TRAVEL.  295 

fifteen  years.  All  sorts  of  facilities  are  given  to  agitators,-  who 
are  first  paid  for  seducing,  and  then  for  betraying  their  victims. 
And  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  hundreds  have  been  implicated, 
who  but  for  the  temptations  thrown  before  them  by  their  own 
rulers,  would  never  have  imagined  treason. 

It  is,  however,  a  vain  thing  to  resist  by  expedients,  the  inhe- 
rent nature  of  things.  No  degree  of  external  power  can  sup- 
press the  ceaseless  action  of  that  which  springs  eternal  from 
within.  No  outward  preparation,  however  complete  and  organ- 
ized, can  guard  at  every  point,  the  sleepless  watchings  of  an 
activity  which  inheres  as  a  portion  of  the  existence  which  is  op- 
pressed. The  heart  of  man  cannot  be  robbed  of  any  sentiment 
which  makes  a  portion  of  itself.  Thus  we  find  in  every  part  of 
Europe,  a  constant  series  of  real  attempts  at  change,  in  addition 
to  those  false  movements  fostered  by  power,  for  its  own  cruel 
ends.  And  thus  too,  we  find  in  the  midst  of  circumstances 
which  seem  to  forbid  secrecy  or  escape,  the  weak  eluding  the  all 
powerful,  and  the  hunted  patriot  escaping  the  fangs  of  his  pursu- 
ers like  the  partridge  on  the  mountain.  These  Sardinian  arrests, 
made  over  a  whole  kingdom  in  the  same  moment ;  and  previous- 
ly concerted  under  every  possible  advantage— were  to  a  consid- 
erable extent  foreseen,  and  eluded ,  by  many  of  the  intended 
victims.  Even  after  weeks  of  the  most  rigorous  search — no 
traces  could  be  found,  of  persons  marked,  and  dogged,  up  to 
the  hour  when  their  fate  was  considered  fixed.  Humanity  is 
consoled  by  reflections  and  incidents,  which  prove  the  existence 
of  resources  against  the  absolute  ruin  of  society,  whicli  in  the 
utmost  extremity,  still  open  to  it  a  door  of  hope. 


296  MEMORANDA  OF 


CHAPTER  XXXI 


Journey  from  Turin  towards  Nice— The  Po— Plains  of  Piedmont— Culture  of  Silk 
—Of  the  Vine— The  Climate  and  Sky  of  Italy— Italian  Landscapes^Savigliano— 
Popular  Sports. 


As  we  drove  out  of  the  southern  gate  of  Turin,  into  a  thick 
October  fog,  which  at  this  season  covers  the  banks  of  the  Po 
till  mid-day,  I  perceived  that  the  arraed  police  were  thribbled 
both  in  numbers  and  in  vigilance.  I  have  given  the  reason  of 
these  changes  in  the  foregoing  chapter.  I  learnt  it  a  week  after- 
wards at  Nice ;  to  which  point  we  now  bent  our  steps,  up  the 
main  stem  of  the  Po— and  then  up  its  southern  branches,  to  their 
head  in  the  Alps ;  and  onward  over  their  enormous  summits  to 
the  Mediterranean  Sea.  The  distance  from  Turin  to  Nice,  may- 
be about  a  hundred  and  fifty  English  miles ;  of  which  the  first 
half  is  a  level  plain,  the  last  one  of  the  most  savage  regions  of 
Europe. 

Most  of  the  streams  which  issue  from  the  southern  and  eastern 
sides  of  the  Alps,  in  their  mighty  curve  from  the  Mediterranean 
towards  the  head  of  the  Adriatic — find  their  way  first  into  the 
Po ;  which  after  draining  and  watering  the  larger  part  of  the 
wide  and  rich  plains  of  upper  Italy,  throws  itself  by  many  out- 
lets into  the  last  named  sea,  through  an  extensive  alluvial  delta, 
like  that  of  the  Nile  or  the  Mississippi.  This  river  compared 
with  any  known  to  the  Romans  in  the  earlier  periods  of  their 
greatness,  might  justify  much  of  the  enthusiasm  with  which  they 
regarded  Eridauus,  the  father  of  rivers.     Compared  with  the 


FOREIGN    TRAVEL.  297 

great  streams  of  Asia  or  America,  it  sinks  into  absolute  insignifi- 
cance. At  Turin,  it  is  little  more  than  half  as  wide  as  James 
river  at  Richmond  ;  and  its  most  distant  head  not  much  over  a 
hundred  miles  from  thence.  Above  that  city,  its  bed  is  wide 
and  rocky,  giving  too  clear  evidences  of  frequent  and  terrible 
floods,  to  which  it  is  subject  throughout  its  whole  course.  On 
the  portions  of  it  near  its  mouths,  there  is  a  class  of  officers 
called  Guardia  di  Poy  whose  business  it  is  to  watch  the  progress 
of  its  inundations ;  and  to  prevent,  as  it  is  said,  persons  on  its 
opposite  banks  from  mutual  attempts  to  protect  themselves  by 
sluicing  off  the  increasing  waters  upon  each  other.  Every  part 
of  the  plains  of  Piedmont,  which  1  saw,  and  the  fact  is  the  same 
with  the  entire  region  watered  by  the  Po — was  completely  irri- 
gated, and  might  apparently  be  easily  inundated  by  its  waters. 
Small  channels  conducted  the  water  in  every  direction  through 
or  around  the  fields.  Delightful  streams  ran  at  the  road  side, 
always  on  one,  and  generally  on  both  sides,  at  the  foot  of  the 
rows  of  mulberries,  poplars,  and  elms,  which  every  where  skirt 
the  high-ways.  These  innumerable  and  constant  drains,  reduce 
the  volume  of  its  waters  \ery  much  at  their  ordinary  stage,  and 
afford  a  great  relief  against  its  floods ;  besides  beautifying  the 
landscape,  and  fertilizing  ihe  country.  I  presume  they  also 
affect  injuriously  the  health  of  all  this  part  of  Italy — whose 
labouring  population  burnt  by  their  intense  sun  to  a  deep  brown 
— add  to  it  an  air  of  lassitude,  and  a  hollowness  of  visage,  which 
strongly  betokened  the  absence  of  elastic  and  vigorous  health. 
There  is  as  little  in  the  aspect  of  the  people  as  of  the  country, 
to  recall  the  region  and  the  name  of  their  ancestors ;  and  one  is 
ready  to  question  at  every  step,  the  propriety  of  their  ancient 
name  of  Cis-alpine  Gaules.  Before  reaching  Raconiggi,  we 
crossed  the  river  in  a  boat,  which  traversed  the  stream  merely 
by  the  force  of  the  current.  Being  attached  to  a  large  cord,  the 
other  end  of  which  was  made  fast  to  a  post  planted  about  the 
middle  of  the  stream,  perhaps  a  hundred  yards  above,  and  kept 
from  svvagging  in  the  water  by  resting  on  a  succession  of  small 
skiffs :  the  helm  had  only  to  be  turned  to  the  right  or  left, 
according  to  the  direction  required  for  the  boat  to  go ;  and  thus 


298  MEMORANDA    OF 

throwing  its  bow  to  the  stream,  at  such  an  angle  that  the 
diagonals  of  the  forces,  as  they  shifted,  made  practically  a 
curve, — we  were  soon  landed  on  the  opposite  shore.  I  had  seen 
several  such  contrivances  in  America.  This  was  the  only  one  I 
saw  in  Europe,  and  I  was  surprised  to  see  any  thing  at  once  so 
simple  and  ingenious,  in  this  place.  And  my  surprise  had  cer- 
tainly no  reason  to  be  diminished,  when  I  saw  a  box  fastened 
upon  one  side  of  the  boat  (ill  written  and  ill  spelt,)  inscribed  thus  : 
Elemosina  per  le  anime  purganti :  Alms  for  the  souls  in  purga- 
tory. 

Grain,  wine,  and  silk,  are  the  great  staples  of  these  rich  plains, 
in  all  their  extent.  Of  the  first  class  of  articles,  rice  was  for  a 
long  period  the  principal,  as  an  article  of  export;  and  a  consid- 
erable trade  is  still  carried  on  in  it.  But  the  excessive  sacrifice 
of  life  and  health  which  was  constantly  found  to  attend  its  cul- 
ture, has  caused  it  to  be  restricted  to  places  remote  trom  the 
high-ways  and  towns.  The  silk  trade  of  Europe,  especially  of 
Italy,  was  nearly  destroyed  during  the  wars  of  the  French  rev- 
olution. And  before  the  manufacture  of  the  article  had  been 
reinstated,  it  encountered  a  new  enemy.  The  invention  of  the 
cotton  gin,  and  the  power  loom,  and  the  perfection  of  the  various 
subordinate  processes  by  which  cotton  is  prepared  for  the  loom, 
and  afterwards  for  the  person,  all  sustained  by  the  perfection  of 
the  steam  engine,  and  its  application  to  all  these  processes,  have 
unitedly  produced  a  revolution  in  commerce,  whose  influences 
the  world  is  only  beginning  to  perceive.  Amongst  the  first  of 
its  efiects  will  be,  to  supplant  wool,  hemp,  flax,  and  silk,  in  part 
of  their  former  uses ;  by  an  article  at  a  tenth  or  fiftieth  of  the 
cost  of  the  former,  and  answering  all  its  material  ends.  Not- 
withstanding the  enormous  value  of  labour  in  the  United  States, 
and  its  cheapness  in  Italy  and  France,  the  silk  trade  of  both 
countries,  is  languishing  year  by  year,  under  the  influence  of 
our  increased  culture  of  cotton.  It  does  not  perhaps  enter  into 
the  thoughts  of  our  cotton  planters,  that  their  wealth  is  a  direct 
cause  of  the  poverty  of  thousands  in  the  south  of  Europe.  So 
strongly  does  the  modern  state  of  human  society,  lock  the  des- 
tinies of  communities  in  each  other. 


1 


FOREIGN   TRAVEL.  299 

The  culture  of  the  vine,  is  universal  in  every  part  of  Europe, 
^vhere  the  climate  will  at  all  allow  of  it ;  and  its  mode  of  treat- 
ment is  more  various  than  that  of  any  other  production  of  the 
earth.  In  the  central  parts  of  France,  the  vines  are  planted  very 
close,  without  method;  trimmed  within  a  few  inches  of  the 
ground,  stuck  with  a  single  short  stick,  and  but  few  sprouts 
allowed  to  stand.  It  is  a  poor,  thin  soil,  which  they  devote  to 
the  vine  ;  and  the  culture  corresponds.  In  Alsace,  Baden,  and 
the  Swiss  Cantons  on  the  Rhine,  and  the  lakes  Constance  and 
Geneva,  the  vine  grows  to  a  larger  size,  is  planted  in  regular 
rows  one  or  both  ways,  stuck  with  high  poles,  and  treated  some- 
what as  we  treat  the  hop.  In  Savoy,  they  often  devote  their 
best  lands  to  the  vine,  and  there  you  see  it  most  commonly  run- 
ning up  small  elm  trees,  and  married,  as  they  express  it,  from 
tree  to  tree  ;  or  trained  upon  arbours  of  a  peculiar  Ibrm,  and  low 
construction.  In  the  rich  plains  of  Piedmont,  the  vines  are, 
planted  in  wide  rows,  from  twenty  to  fifty  feet  apart,  and  these 
intervals  tilled  in  various  ways.  In  the  rows,  the  vines  are  very 
close  together,  generally  within  a  foot  of  each  other :  and  here 
the  main  stems  are  allowed  to  grow  to  the  height  of  four  or  five 
feet,  at  ivhich  they  are  stopped,  supported  by  a  double  rack,  ou 
which  the  young  shoots  rest,  and  look  somewhat  like  a  row  of 
our  raspberry  bushes.  In  the  south  of  France,  especially  in 
Provence  and  Languedoc,  the  soil  given  to  the  vine  is  a  poor, 
red  gravel,  over  which  the  vines  sprangle  like  a  field  of  briars, 
without  any  sort  of  slicks  or  other  support.  They  are  planted 
close,  rarely  in  rows  ;  the  shoots  grow  about  three  feet  in  a  season 
— and  are  trimmed  close  at  the  end  of  it.  As  you  mount  the 
valley  of  the  Rhone,  in  Dauphine,  they  stick  the  vine  with  three 
or  four  small  sticks,  wide  apart  at  the  bottom,  and  united  at  the 
top :  and  around  these,  six  or  eight  feeble  boking  twigs  are 
trained.  Around  Lyons,  they  make  escaliers  of  the  vine,  as  we 
do  of  various  fruit  trees.  In  general,  I  may  say  I  have  not  seen 
any  two  districts  in  which  this  universal  plant  was  cullivaled 
alike.  What  I  had  long  suspected  was  thus  fully  proven  to  me  : 
namely,  that  the  ill  success  attending  the  culture  of  the  vine  in 
the  United  States,  has  proceeded  entirely  from  absurd  attempts 


300  MEMORANDA   OF 

made  under  the  guidance  of  ignorant  foreigners,  to  treat  the 
vine  precisely  as  they  treated  it,  in  their  respective  districts  in 
Europe.  The  vine  is  one  of  the  hardiest  of  plants,  and  is  indig- 
inous  in  every  part  of  the  United  States,  often  of  a  better  qual- 
ity, in  a  state  of  nature,  than  hundreds  of  European  vineyards 
yield  at  the  present  day.  A  considerable  and  uniformly  success- 
ful experience,  now  confirmed  by  all  I  have  seen  in  several  of 
the  principal  vine  growing  nations  of  the  world,  fully  convinced 
me  that  a  little  more  reliance  on  our  own  common  sense,  directed 
to  the  observance  of  the  habits  and  necessities  of  the  plant  in 
various  localities,  are  only  wanting,  to  make  it  flourish  in  every 
part  of  America.  We  cannot  expect  in  our  more  rigorous 
latitudes  the  delicious  table  grape  of  the  south  of  Europe;  but  in 
their  proper  location  we  can  have  the  best,  and  every  where  the 
good.  However  all  reasonable  men  should  set  their  faces  against 
the  use  of  brandy,  as  well  as  other  distilled  poison ;  and  however 
the  fanatical  may  push  their  conclusions  against  the  pure  juice 
of  the  grape,  to  the  extent  almost  of  condemning  by  implication 
the  personal  habits  of  the  Saviour  of  the  world  as  immoral ; 
still,  none  have  yet  denied,  nor  if  they  should  will  man}'  believe 
them,  that  the  grape  is  amongst  the  most  delicious  and  healthful 
of  fruits. 

I  had  heard  always  of  the  extraordinary  clearness  of  the 
atmosphere  of  Italy — and  the  consequent  richness  of  its  moon 
and  star  light,  and  the  deep  blue  of  its  sky.  I  am  not  sure  that 
I  am  qualified  to  speak  on  these  subjects,  by  reason  of  not 
having  seen  the  skies  and  moons,  either  of  Florence,  Rome,  or 
Naples.  But  I  can  easily  imagine  that  a  person  from  France  or 
any  part  of  Great  Britain,  would  be  a  still  more  unqualified 
judge,  even  after  seeing  every  part  of  Italy  ;  for  both  those 
countries,  and  especially  the  former,  bear  no  comparison  in  these 
respects,  even  with  the  best  regions  of  the  United  States ;  far 
less  with  boasted  Italy.  Indeed  Italy  throughout  its  whole 
extent,  corresponds  in  climate  much  more  with  America,  than 
with  northern  Europe.  The  climate  of  that  part  of  it  under  the 
Alps,  resembles  exceedingly  that  of  our  middle  states ;  and  that 
of  the  part  skirting  the  long  bases  of  the  Appenines,  assimilates 


FOREIGN   TRAVEL.  301 

closely  to  the  climate  of  the  Carolinas.  Georgia,  and  Florida.  I 
believe  the  climate  of  Florida  to  be  little,  if  at  all,  inferior  to 
that  of  Naples.  As  to  the  autumnal  months  in  Sardinia,  they 
resemble  exceedingly  the  same  season  in  Virginia,  and  especially 
in  Kentucky  and  Tennessee.  The  same  redness  of  the  sky ; 
the  same  strong  outline  imparted  to  every  object;  the  same 
bright  sun  ;  the  same  delicious  mellowness  of  the  light  of  the 
moon  and  stars.  It  reminded  me  when  it  was  finest  of  our 
Indian  Summers,  when  not  too  much  accompanied  by  the  hazi- 
ness which  there,  as  well  as  here,  frequently  attends  them.  But 
in  addition  to  that  haziness,  in  all  northern  Italy,  and  probably 
in  every  part  of  it,  the  autumnal  months  being  with  them  dense 
and  damp  fogs,  which  from  midnight  till  noon  of  the  following 
day  envelope  the  whole  country,  and  hide  the  face  of  day. 

From  the  top  of  the  CoUe  di  Tende,  which  is  the  first  summit 
that  is  ascended  on  the  route  to  Nice,  I  had  a  most  sombre  view 
of  one  of  these  fogs.  When  the  atmosphere  is  clear,  the  pros- 
pect from  this  mountain  is  one  of  immense  extent  and  variety  ; 
and  we  had  looked  forward  to  it  with  great  expectation. — 
When  we  reached  the  top,  it  was  nearly  noon.  Towards  the 
south,  the  sky  was  perfectly  clear ;  and  the  wilderness  of  rocks 
and  mountains,  strewed  in  absolute  confusion  and  stretching  to 
the  sea,  stood  out  in  perfect  distinctness — and  seemed  to  swell 
into  unnatural  vastness.  To  the  north  and  east.  Piedmont  and 
Lombardy  lay  covered  with  one  continued  and  impenetrable  bed 
of  dark  cloud,  too  thick,  and  the  rays  of  the  sun  too  direct  to 
make  any  reflexion  of  light  visible — and  therefore  uniform  in  its 
sad  and  monotonous  stillness.  At  the  distant  skirts  of  this  sea  of 
fog,  the  dim  outlines  of  the  Alps  could  with  difficulty  be  seen  ; 
and  at  long  intervals  the  highest  summits  projected  their  forms. 
They  strike  the  imagination  like  ramparts  and  watch  towers 
around  an  empire  smitten  on  a  sudden  with  universal  death,  and 
from  which  they  would  warn  the  approach  of  any  living  thing ! 
But  all  days  are  not  like  this,  nor  all  the  prospects  of  this 
beautiful  country  so  sombre  as  that  now  described.  From  the 
Royal  Palace  at  Rivoli. — from  the  heights  around  Turin, — but 
especially  from  the  Public  Square  of  Savigliano,  we  enjoyed , 
Vol.  n.— 27 


302 


MEMORANDA    OF 


under  favour  of  a  delicious  sky,  views  whicFi  stamp  their  images 
indelibly  on  the  memory;  and  which  afford,  in  ti;e  delight  with 
which  the  lover  of  nature  recalls  them,  some  of  the  sweetest 
and  most  humanising  results  of  travel.  The  sight  of  the  vast 
panorama  of  the  Alps  and  Appenines,  first  under  a  clear  sun-set. 
and  then  by  a  brilliant  moon,  from  Savigliano,  in  the  plain  of  the 
Po,  has  nothing  to  surpass  it  in  beauty.  The  south-eastern  side 
of  the  Alps  is  far  less  rugged  than  the  north-western,  and  iheir 
lofty  outline  is  more  distinct.  When  these  grand  proportions, 
changing  constantly  as  the  eye  traces  their  long  lines  carved 
upon  the  heavens,  rest  upon  a  burning  sky  still  illuminated  long 
after  the  sun  has  disappeared — and  bathed  in  the  light  of  a  moon 
nearly  at  its  full ;  the  glorious  picture  is  such  a  one  as  the  great 
architect  of  the  universe  only  could  create! 

All  the  towns  through  which  we  passed,  and  many  of  the 
villages,  were  ornamented  on  both  sides  of  their  principal  streets 
with  such  colonnades,  as  I  have  already  described,  in  speaking  of 
Paris,  Bern,  and  Turin.  The  repeated  and  violent  rains,  and 
the  hot  suns  of  Italy,  make  such  covered  ways  almost  indispen- 
sable ;  and  in  effect  they  are  nearly  universal.  They  are  as 
ancient  as  the  Roman  republic;  at  least  ISero  is  said  to  have 
projected  them,  in  every  part  of  the  new  and  magnificent  ciiy 
which  he  planned,  and  which  he  had  it  so  much  at  heart  to  finisn, 
that  lor  this  reason,  and  not  out  of  the  capricious  folly  usually 
attributed  to  him,  he  burned  the  ancient  and  ill  built  pan  of 
Rome.  At  Savigliano,  we  found  these  colonnades  along  liie 
widest  slreeis  in  the  place,  lined  ^vtth  ;;  large  part  of  the  popula- 
tion, eagerly  watching  the  progress  of  a  game  of  a  kind  whicn 
was  new  to  me,  and  which  seemed  to  fill  all  ranks,  ages,  and  sexes, 
with  enthusiasm.  The  game  was  played  in  the  open  street,  by  a 
number  of  men,  divided  into  two  parties.  Soldiers  stripped  of 
their  rich  uniforms,  which  were  held  by  boys,  and  which  indi- 
cated, in  some  of  their  proprietors,  officers  of  rank  ;  and  citizens 
of  the  principal  classes,  seemed  to  be  the  players.  Clustered 
along,  as  anxious  spectators,  were  women,  priests,  and  men  of 
every  condition — while  boys,  beggars,  and  idlers,  caught  the 
universal  spirit  and  did  their  part,  in  rushing  about  after  stray 
balls.     At  one  end  of  the  street  was  a  plank,  long  and  wiae 


FOREIGN    TRAVEL.  303 

set  endwise  at  a  small  angle  to  the  ground,  and  of  course  some- 
what elevated  at  one  end.  Upon  this  elevated  end,  stood  a 
handsome,  athletic  man,  clothed  only  in  pantaloons  and  linen, 
the  latter  open  at  the  breast — and  the  sleeves  tightly  rolled 
up  on  the  shoulders.  Over  his  right  hand  he  wore  a  wooden 
socket,  which  completely  covered  the  whole  fist ;  and  made  a 
lump  as  large  as  the  head  of  a  young  child,  cut  round  with 
opposite  rows  of  flutes,  so  as  to  make  the  outside  full  of  knobs. 
In  fnmt  of  him,  at  the  distance  of  twenty  feet,  stood  a  man  of 
humble  appearance,  whose  duty  it  was  to  toss  a  large  ball  made 
of  hard  and  light  wood,  to  be  struck  by  the  mailed  hand  of  the 
player.  At  the  signal,  he  tossed  the  ball  ;  at  the  same  instant 
the  other  rushed  dov^-^n  the  plank,  and  struck  the  ball  with  the 
momentum  derived  from  the  rapid  motion,  the  weight  of  his 
body,  and  the  total  exertion  of  his  strength,  catching  it  on  his 
gauntlet  at  the  height  of  about  two  feet  from  the  ground.  It 
flew  high  and  far  through  the  air  ;  and  all  his  antagonists  scat- 
tered along  for  a  hundred  yards,  waited  for  it,  armed  like  him- 
self—and ready  to  catch  it  on  their  mailed  hands,  and  hurl 
back.  After  the  two  blows,  some  decision  was  had,  on  princi 
pies  which  I  made  no  effort  to  comprehend;  and  the  same,  or 
another  person  took  his  stand  on  the  board,  and  the  whole  was 
ar-.tpd  liver.  It  was  a  fair  and  striking  sight.  And  oh!  how 
many  years  of  my  life  did  it  bring  back  in  a  moment,  before  me. 
How  plainly  did  the  sports  of  my  childhood,  and  the  bright-eyed 
and  warm-hearted  companions  that  made  those  sports  so  joyful, 
live  again  at  my  side  ;  and  how  did  my  heart  swell  to  bursting 
with  their  crowded  and  beloved  images  !  Life  itself  is  a  blessing  ; 
an  infinite  blessing,  for  which  it  seldom  occurs  to  us  to  be  grate- 
ful. The  sense  of  being,  the  joy  of  effort,  the  power  of  muscle, 
the  gush  of  blood,  the  nerve  strung  tightly  up ;  all,  even  all  that 
is  most  essentially  mortal  and  perishing  about  us,  has  its  incai-u- 
lable  value  and  blessedness.  Yea  Christ  hath  borne  its  likeness  ; 
its  very  infirmations  find  in  him  a  sense  responsive  to  them.  And 
in  the  day  of  his  great  glory,  this  dust  though  it  be  feeble  now, 
and  in  our  pride  and  folly  too  often  contemned,  shall  rise  and 
shine  with  him  forever ! 


304  MEMORANDA  OF 


CHAPTER   XXXII. 


Lijurian  Mountains — Colli  di  Tende— Mountain  Hamlets— Perils  of  the  way— 
Wildness  of  the  region— Adventure  Avith  Muleteers— Storm  upon  Mont  Braus — 
Geological  Peculiarities— Mountain  Goats— The  Fruits  of  Italy— The  Olive— Pro- 
ject of  Napoleon  for  the  permanent  occupancy  of  upper  Italy. 


The  mountains  which  lie  directly  in  the  route  from  Turin  to 
Nice,  are  the  links  which  unite  the  Alps  and  Appenines  toe;ether. 
They  might  as  well  receive  the  latter  as  the  former  appellation, 
for  ought  that  I  can  see  ;  but  I  believe  it  is  never  given  to  them 
until  they  stretch  farther  towards  the  East  and  South.  The 
little  town  of  Limone  is  situated  at  the  Northern,  as  Nice  is  at 
the  Southern  base  of  these  wild  ranges.  The  width  of  their 
base  is  above  fifty  miles  at  this  point,  which  is  the  narrowest  for 
many  miles  in  both  directions.  There  are  three  immense  ranges 
parallel  with  each  other,  the  smallest  of  which  seemed  to  me  to 
be  both  wider  and  higher  than  the  Alps  at  Mont  Cenis :  and 
the  three  united  produced  on  me,  so  strong  a  sense  of  the 
danger  of  their  passage— that  I  would  prefer,  with  reference 
to  that  single  point,  to  cross  the  Atlantic,  rather  than  ride  in  any 
sort  of  vehicle  from  Limone  to  Nice. 

The  first  or  most  northern  of  these  ridges  is  called  the  Colli  di 
Tende — the  second  Bais,  and  the  third  Braus ;  and  the  whole 
mass  generally.  Colli  di  Tende — the  plural  form  of  the  first  name. 
We  ascended  each  of  them  precisely  as  we  had  previously  as- 
cended Cenis ;  and  yet  it  required  half  an  hour  more  to  ascend 
the  first,  about  the  same  for  the  second,  and  nearly  an  hour 


FOREIGN    TRAVEL.  305 

more  to  ascend  the  third,  than  was  consumed  in  ascending  Cenis; 
while  in  every  instance  the  descent  required  also  a  longer  time 
than  the  descent  of  Cenis.  This,  and  ihe  eye  alone,  are  my  au- 
thorities for  expressinn;  the  opinion  I  have  hazarded  as  to  their 
relative  heitrht ;  for  I  have  not  been  able  to  ascertain  that  these 
summits  have  been  accurately  measured.  But  my  estimate  is  the 
more  likely  to  be  true,  as  distance  here  is  always  measured  by 
time.  If  you  ask  ho-.v  liir  it  is  lo  such  a  place,  or  how  hiojh  such 
a  mountain  is,  the  answer  is  universally  given  in  time.  As  an 
hour,  or  half  an  hour,  or  whatever  else  it  may  be;  meaning,  that 
it  will  take  a  person  so  long  to  walk  it,  at  a  moderate  pace, 
say  from  three  to  four  English  miles  to  the  hour. 

1  saw  little  in  Savoy  itself  approaching  the  savage  wildness  of 
this  region.  And  yet  every  where  you  find  little  villages  clus- 
tered in  the  narrow  and  rocky  vallies  of  the  small  streams  ;  and 
often  planted  against  the  sides  of  barren  mountains,  where  there 
seems  hardly  space  for  ihem  to  stand,  or  other  inducement  than 
necessity,  to  abide.  On  the  ascent  of  Tende  I  counted  from  one 
peak  seven  hamlets  in  the  surrounding  ravines;  and  that  they 
were  not  depopulated  we  soon  had  full  proofl  For,  the  one  most 
elevated,  being  also  nearest  the  road,  sent  out  a  swarm  of  four- 
teen ragged,  but  beautillil  children  ;  who  beset  our  carriage  un- 
til every  one  had  dogged  us  out  of  a  trifle.  I  tried  to  stop  their 
terrible  lamentations  for  a  sous,  by  entering  into  conversation 
with  some  of  the  largest;  but  we  seemed  farther  from  under- 
standing each  other,  than  in  any  attempt  I  had  made.  The  name 
of  their  village  is  Polis,  which  is  good  Greek  for  a  city  ;  but  it 
seemed  to  be  as  much  misapplied  as  it  was  out  of  place.  Or  can 
it  be  possible  that  the  language  of  the  Phocians,  whose  settlements 
along  the  neighbouring  coast  have  been  exterminated  for  so  ma- 
ny centuries,  does  in  reality  still  tincture  the  dialects  of  these  in- 
accessible mountains,  as  well  as  those  of  Provence.^ 

We  followed  the  Virminagno,  a  branch  of  thePo,  to  its  head  in 
the  Tende ;  and  passing  the  mountain,  descended  into  the  bed  of 
the  Roja,  and  along  it  through  a  chasm  no  where  wide  enough, 
by  nature,  for  the  easy  passage  of  the  furious  stream  itself;  and 
every  where  so  deep  that  at  mid-day  the  shades  of  evening  seem 
27* 


306  MEMORANDA    OF 

to  be  closing  around  you.  To  get  to  this  fearful  pass,  you  des- 
cend eighty-four  traverses  upon  the  face  of  the  Tende,  at  every 
one  of  which  you  hang  over  a  precipice,  without  the  slightest 
protection  of  any  kind  between  you  and  it;  with  nothing  but  the 
instinct  of  the  horse  or  mule  to  assure  you  that  he  wont  walk 
over;  and  every  thing  to  convince  you,  that  if  your  carriage  ac- 
quires a  too  rapid  impulse,  or  is  unskilfully  guided  at  the  sharp 
turns,  it  will  probably  force  him  over.  When  you  have  achiev- 
ed this  perilous  descent  you  find  yourself  at  the  beginning  of  the 
chasm  of  the  Roja,  along  which  a  road  barely  wide  enough  to 
permit  two  vehicles  to  pass,  has  been  walled  up  or  cut  out  of  the 
rock  for  the  space  of  about  fifteen  English  miles.  The  very 
ferocity  of  nature  is  stamped  upon  every  lineament  around  you  ; 
and  the  wild  chaos  of  the  strata,  where  any  are  visible,  corres- 
ponds with  the  terrible  physiognomy  of  the  region. 

To  pass  the  second  and  third  mountains  was  not  less  dif&cultj 
nor  perhaps  less  dangerous  than  the  first.  The  traverses  were 
sharper ;  and  if  not  so  frequent,  (which  I  do  not  say,  as  I  count- 
ed but  one  series,  which,  if  my  memory  is  accurate,  was  as  I  have 
said,  those  of  the  Tende,)  it  was  only  because  they  were  more 
precipitous.  I  had  seen  much  reason  to  distrust  the  skill  of  our 
driver,  and  therefore  determined  to  take  the  reins  myself  at  the 
second  descent.  They  have  in  all  these  mountains  a  mechanical 
contrivance  attached  to  the  rear  of  their  carriages,  by  which  both 
the  hind  wheels  can  be  subjected  to  any  required  degree  of  fric- 
tion, or  locked  at  the  same  moment.  When  I  took  the  reins  I 
bade  the  driver  walk  behind  and  regulate  the  "  Mechanique." — 
About  halfway  down  the  mountain  we  encountered  a  brigade  of 
carts  ascending,  with  six  or  eight  mules  in  each.  The  road  being 
both  crooked  and  narrow  would  render  passing  difficult,  if  it  were 
level ;  but  its  being  steep  in  addition,  greatly  increased  that  diffi- 
culty. In  effect,  the  driver  sauntered  after  us  smoking  with 
some  vagabond  he  had  found  to  consort  with ;  and  utterly  ne- 
glected the  mechanique.  The  driver  of  the  foremost  cart  attempt- 
ed at  the  moment  of  passing,  to  change  his  team  from  the  out- 
side of  us  to  the  inside.  It  was  too  late  ;  and  our  whole  vehicle 
came  thundering  against  the  centre  of  his  line  of  mules,  just  at 


FOREIGN    TRAVEL.  307 

the  turn.  The  carriawe  did  not  upset ;  nor  was  his  team  driven 
over  the  precipice ;  but  I  am  sure  no  one  could  tell  why  both 
should  not  have  happened. 

The  matter  now  was  to  rectify  the  evil ;  and  that  was  not  so 
easily  done,  where  muleteers  were  one  of  the  parties.  I  had  a 
few  hours  before  seen  enough  to  convince  me  of  the  stupidity 
of  that  whole  race,  in  an  attempt  made  by  several,  aided  by 
our  driver,  to  help  up  a  poor  mule  that  had  fallen  under  its  over- 
burdened cart,  in  descending  the  mountain  on  the  other  side ;  and 
which  we  encountered  as  we  came  up.  After  they  had  been  ut- 
terly foiled  in  their  own  attempts,  they  were  with  difficulty  per- 
suaded to  lift  at  the  ends  of  the  shafts  rather  than  at  the  body  of 
the  cart ;  and  with  still  more,  to  try  the  desperate  experiment  of 
letting  the  mule  get  up  himself  after  the  cart  was  taken  off  him, 
instead  of  attempting  to  lift  up  mule,  cart  and  all  at  once  by  main 
force.  I  had  little  hope,  in  a  case  apparently  more  complicated, 
of  gaining  a  hearing;  and  therefore  resigned  myself  in  patience, 
to  await  what  I  foresaw  must  pretty  soon  come — namely,  the  end 
of  their  wits.  The  first  movement  Avas  a  furious  quarrel  between 
our  voiturier  and  the  muleteer.  The  second  was  an  attempt  by 
each  to  pass  at  all  hazards,  and  in  utter  disregard  of  what  might 
befall  the  convoy  of  the  other;  an  attempt  as  hopeless  as  one  to 
drive  through  the  mountain.  Then  followed  despair ;  they  tore 
their  hair,  they  covered  their  eyes  with  both  hands,  they  tossed 
their  arms  wildly  towards  heaven,  twisted  their  bodies  in  numer- 
ous contortions,  and  uttered  loud  and  incoherent  curses.  Sup- 
posing the  time  to  interfere  had  come,  I  dismounted,  unfastened 
the  mechanique,  and  by  the  help  of  the  horses  and  the  muleteers, 
backed  or  rather  lifted  our  carriage  a  few  feet  up  the  mountain, 
thus  leaving  a  pass  way ;  and  then  fastened  the  mechanique  so 
that  the  vehicle  could  not  move.  Ten  minutes'  work  put  every 
thing  to  rights ;  and  yet  I  think  it  is  nearly  certain,  that  if  the 
same  thing  had  occurred  next  day,  the  same  preliminary  scene 
would  have  been  enacted  over  again. — A  few  Yankees  are  sadly 
needed  in  Italy. 

When  we  came  to  descend  the  third  mountain,  we  thought  it 
better,  even  for  a  young  and  delicate  infant  and  its  invalid  moth- 


308  MEMORANDA    OF 

er  to  risk  the  cold  of  these  lofty  summits  in  the  open  air,  and  as 
to  the  latter,  the  fatigue  of  a  descent  on  foot ;  than  to  commit 
them  for  the  third  time  to  the  possibility  of  such  frisjhtful  acci- 
dents. Indeed,  after  the  adventure  with  the  muleteers,  this  had 
been  tried  to  a  small  extent;  and  we  had  determined,  though  in 
much  anxiety,  to  extend  the  experiment  farther  on  this  final  oc- 
casion. But  as  we  reached  the  top  of  Braus,  a  storm  of  wind  and 
rain  of  such  violence  encountered  us,  that  there  remained  no  al- 
ternative but  to  resign  ourselves  to  the  necessity  of  another  long 
and  fearful  descent ;  under  circumstances  more  unfavorable  than 
those  under  which  either  of  the  preceding  had  been  made.  I 
deemed  that  descent  nearly  the  most  perilous  adventure  of  a  life 
not  barren  of  vicissitudes.  The  same  almighty  and  benificent 
hand,  that  has  so  long,  so  tenderly  and  so  irresistibly  spread  it- 
self over  and  around  us,  for  good,  and  for  good  only  ;  was  still  our 
guide,  our  shield  and  our  defence.  How  sweet  is  that  state  of 
heart  in  which,  when  we  know  not  what  to  do  not  even  what 
should  be  done,  we  are  enabled  to  commit  ourselves  to  our  Sa- 
viour's absolute  disposal,  with  a  sacred  confidence  like  that  with 
which  a  wounded  child  throws  itself  upon  its  parent's  breast; 
certain  that  every  thing  will  be  done  for  us  that  an  affection,  at 
once  infinitely  wise  and  tender  can  dictate!  It  is  indeed  the 
goodness  of  God  that  leadeth  us  to  repentance  ;  and  we  may  con- 
fidently say,  that  the  heart  which  is  unaffected  by  it,  is  out  of  the 
reach  of  the  most  delightful  influences  to  which  our  being  is 
subject. 

I  have  said  so  much  in  other  places  of  the  strata  of  the  greai 
chain  of  which  these  mountains  constitute  a  part,  that  I  ought 
not  to  trespass  on  the  patience  of  a  general  reader,  by  adding 
any  thing  more.  I  will  only  say,  that  I  was  surprised  at  the  fre- 
quent recurrence  of  lime,  flint  and  basalt,  which  I  met  with  here; 
and  not  less  so,  at  the  great  extent  and  singular  location  of  some 
of  these  formations.  They  were  burning  a  lime-kiln°on  the  very 
top  of  Mount  Braus ;  and  for  miles  around,  just  after  leaving  that 
point,  layers  of  basalt  as  regular  as  if  they  had  been  cut,  not  only 
covered  the  mountains  but  seemed  to  form  their  entire  mass. 
The  strata  lay  in  a  curve  from  east  to  west — generally  accom- 


FOREIGN   TRAVEL.  309 

modated  to  the  shape  of  the  particular  locality ;  and  the  separate 
fragments,  were  six  or  eight  feet  square,  by  about  two  thick- 
each  section  being  about  the  third  or  fourth  part  of  a  cube. 
While  the  subject  is  before  my  mind  I  had  as  well  say,  that  in 
the  volcanic  mountains  of  Cevenes  and  Ardache,  on  the  west 
side  of  the  Rhone,  in  France,  and  nearly  on  the  same  parallel 
with  the  region  of  which  I  now  speak,  are  to  be  found  the  same 
wonderful  formations  of  columnar  basalt,  and  to  a  far  greater 
extent  than  those  at  the  Isle  of  Stafa  in  Scotland,  and  the  Giant's 
causeway  in  Ireland;  the  last  of  which  is  considered  by  all  tour- 
ists so  great  a  curiosity. 

While  we  paused  for  a  moment,  in  the  midst  of  the  gathering 
storm,  to  examine  this  basalt  stratum  on  the  top  of  Braus,  our 
attention  was  attracted  by  a  multitude  of  sounds,  resembling  a 
slight  hammering  on  the  rocks  ;  and  in  another  moment  the  larg- 
est flock  of  goats  I  ever  saw,  emerged  from  a  ravine  hard  by. 
There  were,  I  judged,  several  hundred,  escorted  by  half  a  dozen 
young  females  who  had  watched  them  all  day  as  they  browsed 
through  the  recesses  and  along  the  edges  of  these  desolate  pre- 
cipices ;  and  were  now  hastening  to  their  shelter,  from  the  ap- 
proaching darkness  and  the  gathering  tempest.  The  goat  and 
the  ass  are  the  never  failing  companions  of  the  poor,  throughout 
the  temperate  latitudes  of  Europe.  The  latter  performs  all  his 
labour — the  former  supplies  the  greater  part  of  his  luxuries;  and 
both,  the  most  abstemious  of  all  creatures  and  the  least  choice 
of  all  in  the  small  portion  of  food  needful  for  them,  seem  intend- 
ed by  nature  as  the  peculiar  heritage  of  poverty. 

Even  in  this  severe  region,  the  genial  sun,  and  the  patient  hand 
of  industry  can  force  nature  to  be  kind  against  her  purpose. 
The  delicious  fig  grows  on  the  lower  steps  of  the  mountains,  and 
at  their  foot  springs  up  spontaneously  from  scattered  seed,  along 
the  crevices  of  the  rocks.  It  is  a  singular  fruit.  No  one  likes  it 
at  first;  and  yet  no  one  eats  a  few  dozen  without  finding  it 
amongst  the  most  delicious  of  all  the  productions  of  the  earth. 
We  found  it  on  the  table  wJien  we  entered  France,  in  the  end  of 
July ;  and  we  parted  with  it  with  reluctance  at  Avignon,  in  the 
end  of  November.    The  same  facts  occurred  with  reference  to 


310  MEMORANDA    OF 

the  delightful  white  grape  of  Europe,  called  about  Paris  th^e 
grape  of  Fontainbleau;  about  Marseilles,  Pense  ;  but  generally, 
the  Chasselas.  This  grape  occurs  to  me  at  present,  from  the 
similarity  of  treatment  which  it  and  the  fig  require  in  the  early- 
spring  season,  to  prevent  the  cold  dews  from  nipping  the  tender 
bud,  and  so  destroying  the  crop;  a  treatment  which  shows  the 
watchfulness  and  patience  to  which  they  who  would  secure  these 
gifts  of  a  good  providence,  are  annually  subjected,  even  in  clim- 
ates supposed  to  be  so  balmy.  There  is  a  peculiar  species  of 
reed  indiginous  all  along  the  coast  of  the  Mediterranean;  and 
which  is  cultivated  also  to  considerable  extent  for  many  house- 
hold and  agricultural  purposes.  Wattled  fences  and  pailings  are 
made  of  it ;  vines  and  plants  are  stuck  with  it ;  hurdles  to  dry 
fruit  on,  and  to  transport  light  articles  with,  are  constructed  of 
it ;  and  so  of  other  things.  A  joint  of  this  reed  is  cut  and  placed 
as  a  case  over  every  fig  shoot,  and  every  sprout  of  the  most  del- 
icate vines,  for  several  weeks  each  spring  ;  and  thus,  though  at 
great  labour,  they  insure  full  annual  crops  of  both. 

The  orange,  the  lemon  and  the  almond,  about  in  the  order  I 
have  named  them,  meet  the  eye  as  the  traveller  approaches  more 
and  more  nearly  to  the  Mediterranean.  By-aud-hy  the  cork  tree 
presents  itself,  and  is  one  of  the  greatest  curiosities  of  this  part  of 
Europe.  '  It  is  an  evergreen  oak,  with  a  very  thick  bark,  which 
is  taken  off  every  fall;  leaving  the  tree  with  a  thin  black  under 
bark,  which  soon  supplies  the  place  of  the  coat  removed.  The 
best  cork  trees  are  in  Spain  ;  but  they  flourish  along  the  whole 
coast  from  Nice  to  Toulon,  growing  spontaneously.  Indeed,  I 
never  saw  them  cultivated  but  in  nurseries  ;  and  had  some  trou- 
ble to  procure  a  few  to  send  to  America.  The  almond  is  not  un- 
like the  peach,  and  seems  hardier  than  the  orange  or  lemon.  It 
is  cultivated  much  more  extensively  than  either  of  them  ;  it  is 
not  planted  in  orchards  ;  in  many  portions  of  Italy  and  the  south 
of  France  the  road-sides  are  lined  and  ornamented  with  them. 
It  is  not  an  evergreen  ;  and  by  the  middle  of  November  its  fruit 
was  already  gathered  and  its  leaves  cast. 

But  the  olive,  the  beautiful  olive,  constitutes  at  once  the  grace 
and  the  wealth  of  all  soutliern  Europe.    Palas  gave  it,  said  the 


FOREIGN    TRAVEL.  311 

refined  Athenians,  to  her  children  as  the  most  priceless  benefac- 
tion ;  and  surely  the  moral  atones  for  the  fiction.  For  peace  is 
the  choicest  gilt  which  wisdom  can  bestow  on  man.  How  sub- 
lime was  the  rebuke  of  the  dying  Pericles  to  his  weeping  friends, 
who  solaced  their  hearts  by  the  recital  of  his  great  deeds:  "You 
forget  my  greatest  glory  ;  no  citizen  of  Athens  has  been  obliged 
to  put  on  mourning  on  my  account." 

I  think  no  one  can  look  upon  this  beautiful  evergreen  without 
deep  emotion.  Its  pale-green  leaves,  which  cover  it  as  thickly 
and  as  gracefully  as  the  plumage  of  a  bird,  spread  freshness  and 
verdure  over  regions  which,  without  it,  would  be  desolate  beyond 
expression  ;  lor  such  is  the  aspect  of  those  localities  where  it  de- 
lights to  flourish.  The  severest  features  of  nature  are  covered 
by  its  sweetest  and  most  precious  gifts :  like  as  the  charity,  which 
while  it  hopeth,  believeth  and  endureth  all  things,  and  so,  is  for 
itself  above  all  price  ;  hath  for  its  office  to  cover  the  oifences  of 
those  to  whom  are  its  outgoings,  and  thus  for  its  use  is  above  ail 
praise.  It  was  a  leaf  of  it  that  the  bird  of  peace  bore  back  to  the 
waiting  ark  ;  the  faithful  messenger  which  announced  to  the  rem- 
nant of  a  drowned  world,  that  the  wrath  of  God  was  overpassed. 
And  from  that  solemn  moment,  to  the  glorious  hour  when  the 
natural  branches  shall  be  graffed  back  in  the  stock  from  which 
for  our  sakes  they  were  broken  off,  and  the  whole  earth  smile  as 
the  garden  of  the  Lord  ;  how  full  is  all  scripture  of  the  image  of 
this  tree  !  The  garden  and  the  mount ;  the  anguish  which  ush- 
ered in  the  scene  of  Calvary  ;  and  the  catching  up  into  heaven, 
which  closed  its  awful  wonders:  ihey  were  the  garden  and  the 
mount  of  Olives.  And  when  he  returns  again  to  earth  in  peer- 
less glory,  Olivet  shall  rejoice  the  first  in  the  footsteps  of  the  de- 
scended God  ;  and  cleave  in  twain  before  the  glory  and  majesty 
of  his  presence ! 

The  region  under  the  northern  base  of  these  mountains,  was 
selected  by  Napoleon  for  the  display  of  one  of  those  gigantic  pro- 
jects with  which  his  restless  and  sublime  imagination  teamed. 
The  plains  of  Lombardy,  as  they  are  most  frequently  called  ;  or 
to  speak  more  definitely,  that  part  of  them  which  lies  in  a  triangle 
between  Genoa,  Turin  and  Milan,  was  the  spot  on  which  he 


312  MEMORANDA   OF 

twice  decided  the  fate  of  Europe.  This  region  assumed  so  much 
importance  in  his  eyes,  that  he  seems  to  have  considered  it  the 
natural  battle  ground  for  all  who  would  contend  for  Italy ;  and 
the  real  spot  to  decide  the  question,  as  to  the  mastery  of  the  Alps. 
With  this  view,  after  the  victory  of  Marengo  he  selected  Alex- 
andria, which  is  somewhat  central  in  the  triangle  indicated  above; 
and  silently  but  vigorously  commenced  fortifying  it  impregnably, 
for  a  garrison  of  sixty  thousand  troops.  Upon  this  work  millions 
of  money  were  expended ;  and  it  was  relinquished  only  when 
Europe  had  subdued — and  treachery  undone  him.  It  is  easy  to 
see,  what,  however,  no  one  seems  to  have  seen  before  him ;  that 
such  a  position  so  occupied,  not  only  secured  the  dominion  of  It- 
aly, and  overawed  Switzerland ;  but  fortified  all  the  chances  of 
war  against  Austria  from  the  side  of  Italy,  to  a  degree  that  al- 
most erased  the  barrier  of  the  Alps.  There  is  something  sur- 
prisingly grand  and  effective  in  all  the  conceptions  of  this  extra- 
ordinary man. 


FOREIGN   TRAVEL.  313 


CHAPTER    XXXIII 


Nice— The  Mediterranean— Christopher  Columbus— Human  Progress— Travellera 
—Romish  Ecclesiastics— Sentiments  of  their  people  towards  tliera— Their  Con- 
dition ;  Social,  Moral,  and  Political— Influence  of  Events  since  1830. 


The  County  of  Nice  is  the  smallest  of  the  states  of  the  king 
of  Sardinia.  It  is  one  of  the  least  productive  and  probably  the 
wildest  of  all  the  little  states  into  which  Italy  found  herself 
rent,  after  her  furious  and  long  continued  efforts  for  inde- 
pendence. Heaps  of  mountains — narrow  and  rocky  vallies — a 
barren  and  iron-bound  coast  upon  the  Mediterranean ;  such  is 
this  little  district.  Its  climate  is  reckoned  one  of  the  best  in 
Europe ;  and  one  cannot  fail  to  be  struck  with  the  favourable 
change  not  only  in  the  productions  of  the  soil,  but  in  the  aspect 
of  the  people,  as  he  draws  nearer  to  the  famous  sea  whose  shores 
have  been  the  nursery  of  the  human  race— and  have  witnessed 
the  rise  and  the  decay  of  so  many  empires.  The  town  of  Nice 
is  one  of  the  most  common  resorts  of  travellers— especially  of 
those  who  seek  health.  And  it  has  preserved  even  from  the 
days  of  Augustus,  tlie  fame  of  its  beauty,  its  salubrity,  and  its 
delicious  fruits.  It  is  small  and  for  the  most  part  irregularly 
built;  occupying  both  banks  of  a  small  stream,  and  stretching 
along  the  margin  of  the  sea.  Its  public  walks  are  extremely 
noble  ;  the  one  especially  which  occupies  the  sea  front,  is 
amongst  the  finest  in  Europe. 

From  the  little  river  at  the  west  end  of  the  town,  to  the  har- 
bour beyond  its  eastern  extremity,  raust  be  more  than  a  mile. 
Vol.  II.— 28 


314  MEMORANDA    OF 

For  this  whole  distance  an  elevated  battlement  winds  itself  along 
the  shore,  sometimes  cut  into  the  hills  upon  the  side  and  at  ihe 
base  of  which  the  city  stands — sometimes  walled  up  against  the 
beating  waves  along  the  flat  beach— and  for  a  long  distance 
passing  upon  the  top  of  a  range  of  low  shops  which  skirt  anoth- 
er and  lower  promenade  within  the  city.  The  warm  light  of 
the  setting  sun  illuminates  the  city,  the  wide,  beautiful  panorama 
around  it,  and  the  lofiy  mountains  in  the  distance.  On  the  other 
side  is  the  noble  bay  of  Nice.  Across  it  the  white  towers  of 
Antibes  in  France.  Far  to  the  opposite  point  the  dim  shadow 
of  Corsica.  And  between  the  two  the  ample  bosom  of  the  sea. 
At  your  feet  the  waves  come  ceaselessly,  chasing  each  other 
upon  the  beach.  One  rolls  its  waters  far  up  on  the  wet  pebbles, 
or  bursts  them  against  the  black  cliffs;  and  as  it  retires  into  its 
secret  places  to  renew  its  strength — another  comes  behind  it 
rushing  upon  the  same  ceaseless  ruin.  There  is  a  subdued  and 
solemn  murmur,  like  the  distant  hum  of  a  multitude,  that  makes 
itself  heard  on  the  margin  of  the  sea  :  coming  onward  with  each 
advancing  wave,  subdued  in  the  crash  with  which  it  is  dissolved 
ao:ainst  the  beach,  and  renewed  again  in  the  silence  which 
ensues.  Thus  recurring  evermore,  with  the  advancing  wave— 
and  lost  for  a  moment  as  it  disappears,  it  strikes  the  imagination 
like  the  mournful  wail  of  some  living  creature.  It  is  after  such 
a  fashion  that  generation  follows  generation — and  ages  chain 
themselves  to  the  destinies  of  perishing  ages  that  went  before  ; 
their  existence  as  it  passed,  empty  as  this  sound  upon  the  face  of 
the  deep  ;  and  when  it  is  finished,  leaving  no  trace  behind  more 
valuable  than  the  weed  upon  the  sand  ! 

At  the  end  of  this  walk  is  the  harbour  of  Nife,  pent  in  between 
mountains,  sheltered  from  the  sea  by  a  wall  of  marble,  and  filled 
with  the  light,  sharp  rigged  shallops  of  the  Mediterranean, 
manned  with  sailors  of  every  race  and  costume  found  upon  its 
borders.  It  is  almost  impossible  to  realize  that  these  are  the 
instruments  with  which  Vasco  di  Gama,  Americus  Vespucius, 
and  Christopher  Columbus,  gave  to  their  world,  two  olhers 
greater  than  itself.  Nor  is  it  less  difficult  to  read  the  acts  of 
that  Providence,  which  came  into  this  distant  region  and  these 


FOREIGN    TRAVEL.  315 

narrow  seas;  to  select  the  unknown  and  apparently  unsuitable 
instruments  of  designs,  by  whose  accomplishment  the  whole 
world  was  to  be  thoroughly  revolutionized,  and  its  total  destiny 
reversed.  Once  more  ;  it  is  astonishing  to  reflect  that  the  sub- 
hme  conceptions  which  took  possession  of  the  great  souls  I  have 
named,  and  which  consumed  them  like  an  indwelling  fire,  till 
they  developed  by  deeds  what  their  words  could  not  make  (heir 
dull  cotemporaries  comprehend  ;  that  these  vast  ideas  should 
have  possessed  the  human  mind  precisely  at  the  era,  when  of  all 
others  there  was  the  least  room  to  suspect  their  existence. 

Yet  why  marvel?  Tiie  excellency  of  the  power  of  all  good 
and  all  great  deeds,  is  constantly  of  God :  and  therefore  the 
weaker  the  instrumentality,  the  more  obvious  are  the  power  and 
guidance  from  above.  It  was  from  the  cell  of  an  unknown 
monk,  that  the  renewed  whisperings  of  that  lost  truth  which 
will  regenerate  the  world,  were  first  heard.  It  was  from  ihe 
distant  verge  of  civilization  that  the  sounds  of  that  freedom 
came,  before  whose  voice  all  thrones  tremble,  and  at  whose  call 
the  astonished  world  fixes  its  eyes  with  horror  upon  the  long 
track  of  blood  which  the  footsteps  of  tyrants  have  drawn  across 
all  past  ages  !  Thus  too,  those  great  discoveries  could  not  have 
been  made  sooner  without  becoming  subservient  in  the  existing 
condition  of  the  world,  to  the  exclusive  propagation  of  ignorance, 
superstition  and  oppression;  nor  could  they  have  been  delayed 
later,  without  arresting  for  a  time  the  onward  progress  of  the 
human  race,  and  robbing  liberty  and  virtue  of  a  shelter  for  their 
exiles.  The  invention  of  printing,  the  construction  of  the  mar- 
iner's compass,  the  final  overthrow  of  the  ancient  order  of  soci- 
ety in  the  East,  the  consequent  revival  of  learning  in  Europe, 
the  opening  up  of  the  new  world,  the  glorious  Reformation, 
the  American  Revolution,  the  era  of  modern  efforts  to  convert 
the  world  !  What  a  chain  of  events,  having  their  seeds  germin- 
ating in  the  midnight  of  the  world,  and  already  so  developed  as 
to  show  that  universal  freedom  and  universal  Christianity,  will 
attest  the  accomplishment  of  their  mission  ! 

I  felt  of  course  a  peculiar  interest  in  the  private  history  of 
Columbus,  and  endeavoured  to  make  some  researches  about  his 


316  MEMORANDA  OF 

family,  the  place  ol"  his  birth,  &c.  &c.  I  soon  found,  however, 
that  nothing  certain  could  be  ascertained.  Six  or  seven  villages 
are  asserted  by  as  many  different  authors  to  have  been  the  place 
of  his  birth.  His  name,  if  not  extinct  in  its  native  region,  is 
confined  to  persons  totally  unknown.  At  Turin  there  is  a  Senior 
Colombo,  an  extensive  silk  manufacturer,  a  remarkably  noble 
looking  man.  who  is  the  only  person  of  the  name,  I  saw.  No 
history  seems  to  me,  more  pointed  in  its  instructive  and  solemn 
teaching,  than  that  of  this  great  discoverer.  Perhaps  of  all  the 
mere  men  that  have  lived,  he  will  be  found  to  have  exercised 
the  largest  influence  over  the  destinies  of  the  world.  And  yet 
the  world  rarely  inscribes  his  name  upon  any  list,  however  ex- 
tended, of  its  illustrious  men  ;  and  the  lands  he  brought  to  light, 
substitute  for  his,  an  inferior  designation.  The  history  of  the 
human  mind  developes  nothing  more  grand  than  the  profound 
and  far-sighted  wisdom  which  guided  his  meditations  to  their 
sublime  result ;  nor  does  anything  in  human  conduct  surpass 
the  noble  constancy  with  which  he  sustained,  conducted,  and 
achieved  his  glorious  purpose,  against  the  pity  and  contempt,  if 
not  the  scorn  of  his  generation.  The  gratitude  of  his  sovereigns 
repaid  him  for  services  beyond  all  that  subject  ever  rendered — 
with  insult  and  chains;  and  posterity  has  awarded  to  his  mag- 
nificent character,  the  meed  of  praise  due  to  a  bold  seaman  and 
a  good  guesser! 

It  is  probable  that  the  peculiar  situation  of  Italy  at  the  present 
moment,  and  the  great  difficulty  of  penetrating  the  cordons 
which  each  little  state  draws  around  itself,  nominally  to  exclude 
cholera,  but  in  part  also,  perhaps  to  check  the  influx  of  unwhole- 
some opinions  ;  may  have  been  the  means  of  accumulating  an 
unusual  number  of  travellers  along  the  northern  shore  of  the 
Mediterranean.  Nice,  Toulon,  Marseille,  Nismes,  and  indeed 
all  the  cities  and  even  villages  from  Leghorn  to  Montpelier,  a 
distance  of  four  or  five  hundred  English  miles,  were  during  this 
autumn  thronged  with  strangers.  The  same  result  has  present- 
ed itself,  however,  in  every  part  of  the  continent  in  which  I  have 
been  ;  and  that  to  such  a  degree,  as  to  afford  here  as  well  as  in 
our  own  country,  a  striking  illustration  ol'  that  trait  of  the  latter 


FOREIGN    TRAVEL.  317 

times,  which  the  prophet  expresses  when  he  says  that  the  mul- 
titudes "shall  run  to  and  fro."  We  have  reason  to  rejoice  that 
the  predicted  consequence  is  already  manifesting  itself  every 
where ;  and  that  the  necessary  result  of  a  free,  rapid,  and  en- 
larged intercourse  amongst  the  nations,  must  be,  that  "  know- 
ledge shall  increase."  Men  behold  reflected  in  the  conduct  of 
others,  the  follies  and  weaknesses  characteristic  of  their  own 
countries;  and  they  grow  wiser  and  more  charitable  at  the  same 
moment.  They  see  in  the  peculiar  evils  and  vices  of  others,  the 
strongest  illustrations  of  the  contrary  virtues  or  blessings  voucli- 
edsafe  to  their  beloved  homes ;  and  they  are  doubly  fortified  both 
in  the  purpose  to  uphold  with  renewed  vigour  what  is  good  in 
their  own  lot,  and  in  the  ardent  desire  to  bestow  on  all,  the  same 
mercies  which  appertain  to  themselves.  It  is  thus  our  own  con- 
ceptions are  enlarged  and  rectified,  and  our  purposes  of  good 
fortified  and  enlightened,  by  the  passive  influence  of  others  over 
us.  How  great  must  be  the  active  influence  of  such  multitudes, 
upon  the  communities  through  which  they  incessantly  flock,  or 
amidst  which  they  take  up  their  temporary  abode.  Errors  are 
corrected,  new  wants  are  created,  higher  efforts  are  promoted, 
better  methods  are  diffused,  and  activity  and  energy  before  un- 
known, imparted  to  every  portion  of  the  living  mass.  On  one 
side  of  all  the  cities  of  Europe,  you  find  what  is  called  the  new 
towiit  the  west  end,  or  by  some  similar  appellation  distinguished 
in  name,  as  its  whole  aspect  distinguishes  it  in  reality,  from  the 
ancient  town.  The  one  is  dirty,  dark,  and  damp ;  its  streets 
crooked,  irregular, and  narrow ;  and  its  whole  compass  contracted 
into  the  narrowest  possible  space,  crowded  with  high  and  desolate 
looking  houses,  and  compassed  about  with  immense  defences. 
The  new  town  is  airy,  neat,  and  striking;  its  streets  wide, regu- 
luar,  and  beautifully  adorned ;  its  compass  ample  and  free,  and  its 
whole  aspect  one  of  comfort,  elegance,  and  prosperity.  Such 
are  the  present  and  the  past,  of  human  society.  There,  is  what 
the  wave  of  civilization  must  purify  or  obliterate ;  here,  is  that 
which  must  spring  up  in  its  fertilizing  course.  The  Steam  Boat 
and  the  Rail-Road  have  not  wrought  a  more  thorough  revolu- 
tion in  the  means  of  human  intercourse — than  that  intercourse 
28* 


318 


MEMORANDA    OF 


itself  in  the  degree  that  it  is  enlarged,  must  work  in  the  whoJe 
condition  of  the  world. 

The  great  mass  of  European  travellers  are  English ;  after 
them  perhaps  Germans,  then  Italians  and  Russians, — and  fewest 
of  all,  French.  There  is  not  much  individual  wealth  in  France, 
and  the  French  live  at  home,  more  to  their  minds,  and  at  a 
cheaper  rate  than  any  where  else.  The  world  has  nothing  to 
offer  them  like  Paris,  and  to  Paris  they  who  travel  go.  Their 
climate  is  equal  to  any  in  Europe,  if  not  the  best  of  all ;  and 
their  domestic  excitements  and  means  of  knowledge  of  a  partic-- 
ular  kind,  before  all  others.  On  the  contrary  the  English  have 
more  individual  wealth,  and  fewer  means  of  spending  it  pleas- 
antly at  home,  than  any  people  in  the  world  ;  while  even  those 
whose  circumstances  are  confined,  may  live  in  almost  any  part 
of  Europe  for  less  money,  in  better  style,  in  a  better  climate, 
with  incalculably  better  means  of  improvement  and  more  re- 
spectably, than  in  most  parts  of  Britain.  In  England,  poverty 
is  not  only  the  greatest  of  misfortunes,  but  is  counted  by  the 
upper  classes  amongst  the  most  serious  offences ;  in  so  much 
that  beggarly,  is  the  most  contemptuous  epithet  in  their  vocabu- 
lary. In  France,  I  think  it  would  make  little  or  no  odds  in  a 
man's  standing  with  the  world,  whether  he  walked,  or  drove 
one,  two,  or  six  horses ;  whether  he  lived  on  five  francs  a  day, 
or  wasted  a  thousand.  In  England,  "a  respectable  appearance," 
is  in  all  cases  not  only  indispensable,  but  in  the  majority  of  cases 
the  nature  of  the  appearance,  is  the  principal  ground  on  which 
society  bases  its  estimate.  It  is  not  strange  then  that  the  French 
travel  very  little,  and  rarely  abide  permanently  out  of  France  ; 
nor  that  the  English  travel  a  great  deal,  and  abide  in  every  part 
of  Europe. 

Upon  the  vyhole,  this  is  good  to  all  concerned.  The  English, 
of  all  people,  need  most  this  extensive  intercourse  with  strangers ; 
and  of  all  people  in  Europe  they  have  most  with  which  to  repay 
others  in  kind  for  the  advantages  they  receive.  Many  of  the 
useful  arts  are  with  them  more  advanced,  than  on  the  continent  ; 
their  language  is  stored  with  a  more  robust  literature  than  any 
other ;  many  of  them  have  more  accurate  and  elevated  ideas  on 


FOREIGN   TRAVEL.  3ig 

religious  subjects  than  most  other  Europeans ;  and  though  neither 
they  nor  the  rest  understand  as  yet  the  true  principles  of  human 
freedom — they  have  on  some  few  points,  better  matured  and 
more  thoroughly  practised  the  knowledge  they  possess,  than 
most  of  their  neighbours  on  the  continent.  These  are  immense 
gifts  to  bestow.  And  on  the  other  hand,  their  inordinate  pride 
of  wealth,  place,  and  rank,  attended  by  a  subserviency  to  them  in 
others,  that  exceeds  all  belief— even  if  incurable,  is  subjected  to 
profitable  discipline  when  abroad.  Their  extraordinary  national 
vanity,  and  national  prejudice  against  all  other  people,  are  liable 
to  be  rectified  when  they  see  that  others  possess  many  advan- 
tages over  them  in  very  important  particulars ;  and  that  many 
of  those  representations  of  their  writers,  by  which  their  evil  and 
selfish  passions  are  pampered  from  childhood — are  as  false  when 
they  sedulously  depreciate  other  nations,  as  when  they  habitually 
overrate  their  own.  Every  American  reader  will  need  only 
remember  what  every  Englishman  has  said  of  us,  every  time  he 
has  spoken  of  us  in  comparison  with  themselves,  from  the  4th 
day  of  July,  1776,  down  to  the  present  moment;  to  be  fully 
satisfied  that  very  little  credit  is  to  be  attached  to  what  they  say 
of  other  states,  in  the  same  relation.  For  nay  own  part,  if  I 
should  characterize  the  English  by  a  single  epithet,  I  should  say 
they  are  the  abusive  nation.  Their  daily  and  periodical  press, 
even  what  they  call  their  religious  press,  lavishes  upon  the  most 
distinguished  men  of  their  own  country  every  epithet  of  scorn 
and  infamy,  in  which  the  language  so  copiously  abounds ;  and 
they  all  turn  upon  all  others,  who  for  any  reason,  or  by  any 
chance  are  brought  into  conflict,  or  even  into  comparison  with 
themselves,  the  united  abuse  which  had  before  been  spent  in 
their  domestic  broils.  The  national  judgment  and  temper,  thus 
pervert  and  embitter  themselves  to  a  degree,  which  has  hardly  a 
parallel  in  the  history  of  the  world. 

I  speak  of  whole  nations — and  therefore  speak  in  general  terms. 
There  are  multitudes  of  both  of  those,  of  which  I  have  now 
said  most,  to  whom  these  observations  could  have  no  true  appli- 
cation. Some  of  the  most  arduous  and  adventurous  of  modern 
travellers  have  been  French ;  and  some  of  the  most  interesting 


220  MEMORANDA    OF 

volumes  of  travels  ever  written,  are  in  that.language.  It  is  also 
true  that  multitudes  of  English  are  amjngst  the  most  candid  and 
enlightened  men  of  Europe  ;  and  their  great  works  of  charity 
sufficiently  attest,  that  true  religion  rr.akes  all  men  who  are  bap- 
tized in  its  glorious  spirit,  essentially  the  same.  But  there  are 
also  multitudes  of  them,  upon  whom  all  that  benefits  and  corrects 
others  is  lost — and  who  seem  to  seek  in  intercourse  with  the 
world,  only  new  food  for  their  prejudices.  I  heard  an  English 
traveller  say,  that  the  best  oranges  in  the  world  could  be  obtained 
in  England  alone ;  another,  that  their  grapes  were  better  than 
those  of  the  south  of  France ;  a  third,  that  their  figs  were 
incomparably  superior  to  all  others.  And  yet  these  are  tropical 
fruits,  and  the  ^southermost  point  of  England  is  above  the  50th 
degree  of  north  latitude  !  I  heard  an  English  gentleman  who 
had  seen  all  Europe,  say  that  after  seeing  London  and  its  public 
monuments — there  was  nothing  worth  looking  for  any  where 
else ;  and  yet  there  is  not  a  city  in  Europe,  of  the  first  class,  so 
poor  of  sights  as  London.  I  have  heard  and  read,  times  out  of 
number,  that  England  was  not  only  the  most  enlightened  and 
free  of  all  nations,  past  or  present,  but  even  that  it  was  the  only 
one  in  which  perfect  liberty  and  complete  civilization  now  reign  ; 
and  yet  they  have  no  written  constitution — the  powers  residing 
in  their  king  and  parliament  are  such  as  define  the  most  absolute 
despotism — their  oligarchy  is  the  most  powerful  and  privileged 
in  Europe — their  established  hierarchy  the  richest  and  idlest 
that  ever  existed  in  any  Protestant  country — their  national 
means  of  superior  education  limited  to  those  who  hold  peculiar 
religious  opinions,  and  denied  to  all  others,  and  no  system  of 
popular  education  adequate  to  the  wants  of  a  fiftieth  part  of  the 
people  existing  at  all ;  while  a  quarter  of  the  entire  population 
beg  bread,  or  live  in  poor-houses, — and  their  statute  book  is 
crowded  with  fictitious  crimes  and  cruel  punishments  to  a 
degree  unprecedented  amongst  nations ! 

At  Nice,  as  in  every  part  of  Italy,  the  multitude  of  Romish 
ecclesiastics,  continually  surprises  you — and  gives  an  extremely 
fantastic  appearance  to  society.  If  you.  dine  at  a  table  d'Hote 
in  any  considerable  hotel — a  third  of  the  guests  at  least,  are  sure 


FOREIGN    TRAVEL.  321 

to  be  ecclesiastics.  If  you  enter  a  caffe  to  take  some  slight 
refreshment,  or  read  a  e^azette,  you  find  ecclesiastic:^  sauntering 
or  lounging  about  the  rooms,  sipping  chocolate,  coffee,  or  eau- 
de-vie,  or  earnestly  engaged  in  conversation,  in  those  under 
tones  required  by  the  place  and  so  appropriate  to  their  habits. 
If  you  walk  the  streets,  you  are  absolutely  certain  to  encounter 
ecclesiastics,  of  all  grades  and  ranks,  from  the  filthy  and  bare- 
footed friar,  up  to  the  luxurious  prelate  in  his  costly  equipage, 
and  down  to  the  delicious  fop  mincing  along  as  gingerly  as  a 
thorough  exquisite.  They  all  wear  their  costume — or  at  least 
enough  of  it  to  distinguish  themselves  at  all  times.  And  it  is 
curious  to  see  how  various  that  costume  is — and  how  carefully, 
at  the  same  time,  it  preserves  its  generic  character.  Some  dress 
in  black,  some  in  brown,  some  in  white,  some  in  a  mixture  of  the 
two  last  named  colours.  Some  go  barefooted,  some  wear  shoes 
without  stockings,  some  a  sort  of  sandal;  but  most  generally 
short  breeches  and  stockings.  Some  go  bareheaded,  some  wear 
caps,  and  most  use  large  hats,  cocked  up  into  all  sorts  of  shapes- 
All  these  particulars,  so  far  from  being  indifferent,  are  matters  of 
deep  import,  and  belong  to  the  rule  of  the  particular  order,  or 
the  rank  of  the  party;  and  so  well  settled  are  they,  that  any 
resident  of  the  Country  will  at  once  designate  the  wearer  by  his 
dress.  I  speak  exclusively  of  the  male  sex ;  for  the  varieties 
in  the  costume  of  the  female  professed,  though  very  great  and 
exceedingly  ridiculous,  are  commonly  within  the  bounds  of 
propriety. 

The  most  striking  thing  about  these  priests,  of  all  orders  and 
conditions,  seems  to  be  their  universal  idleness.  They  do  no 
work,  they  never  preach,  they  write  no  books.  What  do  they 
do?  Alas!  the  universal  ignorance  which  has  settled  Hke  a  pall 
over  Italy,  shows  too  plainly  what  they  never  do  :  while  univer- 
sal corruption  of  manners,  which  makes  the  land  an  abomination 
— gives  too  much  reason  to  fear,  that  they  who  impress  upon 
public  morals  their  general  tone—have  not  been  merely  passive 
in  this  deep  pollution. 

It  is  rather  surprising  to  find  that  the  great  body  of  the  peo- 
ple, neither  are  nor  pretend  to  be,  ^t  all  deceived  as  to  the  real 


322  MEMORANDA    OF 

character  of  the  Papal  priesthood.  I  have  conversed  with  hun- 
dreds, freely  and  directly  on  the  subject — I  have  sought  informa- 
tion from  all  classes  of  the  people — I  have  tried  to  penetrate  into 
the  real  sentiments  of  the  multitudes,  as  to  the  character  of  their 
own  clergy.  And  I  solemnly  declare  I  never  heard  a  single 
human  being  in  any  part  of  Catholic  Europe,  express  the  slight- 
est confidence  in  the  genera!  piety,  or  even  morality  of  their  own 
priesthood.  On  the  contrary,  with  one  universal  consent,  more 
unanimous  than  any  by  which  I  have  found  any  other  disrepu- 
table fact  established— they  admit  that  in  general  iheir  priests 
are  dissolute,  rapacious  and  ignorant.  It  is  indeed  true,  that  1 
have  found  persons  defend  the  admitted  conduct  of  the  priest- 
hood, either  on  the  ground  of  strong  necessity,  or  resulting  good, 
or  the  official  sanctiiy  of  the  sinner ;  but  nobody  questions  the 
facts  themselves.  Nor  am  I  at  liberty  to  conceal,  that  the  uni- 
versal impression  attributes  to  them,  not  vice  merely,  nor  gross 
sin  only,  but  deep,  general,  and  habitual  crimes.  Crimes  such 
as  history  has  charged  them  with  in  all  stages  of  their  apostacy, 
and  the  public  records  of  so  many  nations  fastened  upon  tliem  ; 
crimes,  which  by  the  admission  of  their  own  analists  have  so 
often  and  so  thoroughly  polluted  the  Holy  See  itself;  which  have 
so  defiled  multitudes  of  their  orders,  and  houses,  (as  the  Tem- 
plars and  Jesuits)  as  to  acquire  their  suppression  by  Papal  au- 
thority, and  which  more  than  at  any  former  period,  seem  at  ihe 
present  day  to  pervade  the  hierarchy  as  a  body.  They  who 
doubt  what  I  assert,  will  no  longer  be  incredulous,  if  they  will 
appeal  to  the  same  testimony  on  which  1  rest  for  these  grave 
assertions. 

There  is  another  fact  not  less  important,  but  perhaps  even  less 
,  generally  supposed  to  exist.  The  masses  of  the  Catholic  popu- 
^  -I^^Jation  of  Europe,  but  especially  of  Italy  and  France,  not  only 
have  no  respect  for  the  personal  character  of  their  clergy;  but 
nourish  a  deep  sense  of  injuries  received  at  their  hands,  and  a 
profound  sentiment  of  bitterness  towards  them.  I  do  not  speak 
of  the  immense  multitudes  who  have  openly  forsaken  the  Papa- 
cy, and  who  though  nominally  still  Catholics  treat  all  the  preten- 
sions of  the  church  with  unconcealed  scorn :  nor  yet  of  the  por^ 


FOREIGN    TRAVEL.  323 

tion  not  less  considerable,  who  retain  a  sort  of  shy  and  qualified 
relation  to  the  church,  while  they  shun  and  despise  its  ministers. 
What  I  have  said  is  doubtless  true,  in  an  eminent  degree  of  both 
these  classes ;  and  how  large  they  are,  may  be  inferred  from  the 
statement  by  De  Pradt,  in  his  work  entitled  Les  Quatre  Concor- 
dats, that  in  Paris  the  Easier  Communions  during  the  whole 
period  of  the  restoration,  that  is,  from  1815  to  1830,  never  ex- 
ceeded eighty  thousand,  and  often  fell  short  of  forty  thousand  a 
year.  That  is  to  say,  there  was  only  about  one  in  twenty  of 
the  population  of  Paris,  who  during  the  brightest  days  which 
the  Papacy  has  witnessed  for  half  a  century,  was  wiUing  to 
avoid  mortal  sin,  by  confessing  and  communing  once  a  year. 

But  as  I  have  said,  it  is  one  of  the  real  and  true  adherents  to 
Papism,  that  I  speak.  And  it  is  not  easy  to  imagine  how  they 
could  think  of  the  personal  character  of  their  priests  as  they  do, 
and  not  feel  towards  them  a  sentiment  of  terror,  if  not  of  hatred. 
It  is  the  last  and  highest  evidence  of  corruption  indicated  in  the 
Scriptures,  that  we  should  have  pleasure  in  those  who  commit 
things  which,  we  are  conscious,  God  judges  to  be  worthy  of  death. 
But  even  nature  itself,  in  its  worst  estate^  seems  incapable  of 
such  degradation,  provided  the  offences  be  committed  upon,  or 
against  ourselves.  VVe  may  be  so  circumstanced  as  to  bear  in 
silence  what  we  are  not  able  to  redress — and  what  we  dare  not 
even  avow.  Marshal  Marmont  was  loth  perhaps  to  be  called 
traitor  and  have  his  jaws  boxed  by  the  Duke  of  D'Angouleme, 
when  he  communicated  to  him  the  inevitable  ruin  of  the  house 
of  Bourbon.  So  the  sincere  Papist,  who  sees  no  alternative 
between  the  loss  of  his  own  soul  and  the  souls  of  his  children, 
and  communion  with  a  church  whose  ministers,  in  a  thousand 
forms  of  injury,  make  him  the  victim  of  their  lusts  ;  may  indeed 
submit  to  his  cruel  destiny. — But  he  will  nourish  in  his  soul;  the 
sense  of  his  injuries ;  and  he  will  retain  the  impression  of  the 
personal  worthlessness  of  those  whose  official  character  alone  is 
any  thing,  but  that  every  thing,  to  him. 

It  is  in  this  way  we  find  it  easy  to  account  for  the  extraordi- 
nary fact,  that  in  all  Catholic  countries  the  priests  are  the  very 
first  victims  of  the  fury  of  their  own  flocks,  in  all  times  of  pop- 


324  MEMORANDA   OF 

ular  commotion.  The  moment  any  impulse  stronger  than  the 
habitual  awe,  with  which  they  are  taught  to  regard  the  pretend- 
ed representatives  of  God,  takes  possession  of  the  soul,  and  oblit- 
erates that  servile  terror;  the  fury  of  long  restrained  passions 
overleaps  all  bounds,  and  is  quenched  only  in  the  blood  of  those 
under  whose  injuries  they  writhed,  but  which  the  power  of 
superstition  prevented  them  from  redressing  in  proper  time  and 
due  measure.  These  facts  are  unique,  and  find  no  place  in  rela- 
tion to  any  other  religion  true  or  false  except  the  Papacy.  And 
how  strongly  do  they  illustrate  that  awful  denunciation  of  John 
in  the  Apocalypse — by  which  we  learn  that  although  the  nations 
shall  give  their  power  to  Rome,  until  the  word  of  God  shall  be 
fulfilled ;  yet  when  the  day  of  recompense  does  come,  those  very 
nations  shall  not  only  hate  her,  and  make  her  desolate  and  naked, 
but  "  shall  eat  her  flesh  and  burn  her  with  fire."— (Rev.  xvii.) 

The  events  of  the  last  six  years  in  Europe,  have  been  calcu- 
lated to  increase  in  a  very  great  degree,  the  mutual  alienation 
of  the  priests  and  the  people  ;  and  to  furnish  the  latter  with  pub- 
lic and  permanent  grounds  of  distrust,  hardly  less  cogent  than 
the  private  and  personal  ones  they  beiure  had  for  aversion.  For 
it  can  no  longer  be  doubtful  that  the  whole  Papal  hierarchy  of 
Europe  is  committed,  sold,  and  transferred  to  a  system,  agains; 
which  the  masses  of  Europe  have  for  fifty  years,  but  especially 
since  1830,  contended  not  only  with  energy,  but  with  the  vehe- 
mence of  desperation.  France,  Belgium,  Poland,  Switzerland, 
Sardinia,  Naples,  the  Pontifical  States,  the  Sclavonic  Provinces 
of  the  Austrian  Empire,  Spain  and  Portugal,  have  within  the 
last  six  years,  been  the  scenes  of  convulsions  more  or  less  bloody, 
and  more  or  less  successful;  but  in  every  case  originating  from 
the  same  causes,  and  tending  to  the  same  result.  The  world  is 
fatigued  with  the  insolence  of  power,  and  exhausted  in  its  suffer- 
ance of  its  stupid  and  cruel  domination.  The  voice  which  issues 
from  the  ruins  of  the  past,  has  no  longer  any  charm  for  the  hu- 
man soul.  But  there  is  a  new  and  ravishing  voice  whose  sounds 
come  to  the  nations  from  the  bosom  of  the  unknown  future  ;  at 
the  gentlest  whispers  of  which  their  spirits  vibrate, — and  amidst 
whose  loud  calls  they  rush  furiously  to  battle.     Call   it   what 


FOREIGN   TRAVEL.  325 

you  please — the  spirit  of  the  age — the  spirit  of  movement — the 
spirit  of  life  or  that  of  death  :  its  spell  is  upon  the  human  race, 
and  to  resist  it,  is  as  idle  as  to  bid  the  sun  return  in  his  glorious 
march;  It  is  not  an  impulse  which  was  engendered  yesterday, 
or  which  sprung  from  accident.  Look  along  the  whole  arc  of 
time,  and  you  behold  in  all  great  eras  the  operation  of  one  of 
those  grand  impressions.  Nay  more ;  you  may  see  amongst 
them  all,  taken  as  a  series,  a  chord  of  deep  and  quick  sympathy, 
and  a  grand  progressive  developement  throughout.  The  heroic 
ages  illuminated  the  dawn  of  civilization.  The  sublime  sentiment 
of  patriotism — the  single  absorbing  passion  of  devotion  to  coun- 
try, presided  over  all  the  glory  of  Rome.  A  third  developement 
occurred,  and  the  bright,  lofty,  and  romantic  spirit  of  chivalry 
conferred  all  their  grandeur  on  the  middle  ages ;  and  held  its 
vigils  by  the  cradle  from  which  modern  society  emerged.  All  the 
spirit  of  our  own  great  era  is  summed  up  in  a  single  word, — 
intense,  abstract,  quenchless  love  of  liberty.  Liberty  to  think  ; 
behold  the  reformation  of  religion,  and  the  birth  of  all  modern 
science.  Liberty  to  speak ;  behold  the  power  of  the  press,  the 
advancement  of  popular  education,  and  the  resistless  energy  of 
organized  public  sentiment.  Liberty  to  obey  the  dictates  of  the 
great  truths  we  have  discovered  and  proclaimed  ;  behold  the  ne- 
cessity to  re-construct  all  human  society  upon  a  model  free,  equal, 
and  practical. — Behold  the  cause,  and  doubt  if  you  can,  the  issue 
of  those  fierce  contentions  which  every  where  agitate  the  world. 


Vot.  II.— *29 


326  MEMORANDA    OF 


CHAPTER  XXXIV 


Present  Posture  of  Rome— The  absolute  Union  of  her  cause  with  that  of  Despot- 
ism—Encychque  of  1832— The  Abbe  de  la  Mennais— Cardinal  Pacca— Briefs  of 
1833— Encyclique  of  1834— Bull  to  the  Polish  Bishops— Inevitable  Ruin  of  the 
Papacy. 


The  pope  of  Rome  is  a  temporal  prince — as  well  as  the  pre- 
tended spiritual  chief  of  the  whole  world.     He  is  the  vicar  of 
Jesus  Christ ;  and  it  is  of  faith  in  the  Roman  Catholic  church  to 
believe,  that  he  is  invested  with  all  tl;ie  powers,  as  the  temporal 
and  visible'  head  of  the  church,  which  would  reside  in  Christ  if 
he  were  on  earth.     The  outward  unity  of  a  body  like  the  Papa- 
cy, necessarily  involves  the  existence  of  an  infallible  tribunal,  to 
dispose  of  such  questions  as  misht  endanger  its  oneness.     And 
although  various  attempts  have  been  made  to  place  that  infalli- 
bility in  other  hands,  either  conjointly  with  the  Pope,  or  to  the 
exclusion  of  him ;  yet  the  strength  of  logic  is  surely  in  favour 
of  the  claims  of  Christ's  vicar  to  that  prerogative,  and  the 
necessary  course  of  events  must  settle  the  practical  exercise  of 
all  its  functions,  in  the  same  hands  in  which  the  power,  the  pat- 
ronage, and  the  active  control  rest.     Whatever,  therefore,  coun- 
cils may  have  defined,  or  scholars  proven,  the  Pope  is  the  active 
depository  of  the  infallible  and  plenary  authority  of  the  church. 
But  this  same  Pope  is  the  head  of  a  temporal  monarchy,  whose 
important  functionaries  are  all  priests,  and  which  from  the  days 
of  Charlemagne  has  entered  largely  into  the  social  system  of 
Europe.     To  imagine  that  the  successive  pontiffs  should  have 
one  system  of  conduct  and  one  code  of  morals,  in  their  capacity 


FOREIGN    TRAVEL.  327 

as  spiritual  head  of  the  church,  and  an  opposite  one  as  chief  of 
the  temporal  monarchy  of  the  church  ;  is  totally  absurd  and 
puerile.  This  mixture  of  temporal  and  spiritual  functions  has 
disturbed  Europe  for  above  a  thousand  years ;  and  has  finally  led 
the  Papacy  into  a  line  of  policy  which  has  identified  Rome  with 
the  cause  of  despotism — and  sealed  her  ruin  in  the  coming;  tri- 
umph of  free  opinions. 

The  subject  is  too  large  to  permit  our  entering  upon  it  here, 
in  the  way  of  simple  speculation.  The  mere  proofs  of  what  I 
assert  are  scattered  through  so  many  ages  and  are  so  redundant, 
that  for  that  very  reason,  all  mention  of  any  but  the  latest  is 
omitted.  But  the  very  latest  acts  of  this  solemn  drama  are 
clear  and  full — and  to  them  I  beg  the  serious  attention  of  the 
reader. 

"On  the  18th  day  before  the  calends  of  September,  (the  15th 
of  August,)  being  the  holy  day  of  the  assumption  of  the  blessed 
Virgin  Mary,  in  the  year  of  the  incarnation  1832^  and  the  second 
of  our  pontificate,"  as  his  own  words  are;  Gregory  XVI.,  at 
present  occupying  the  See  of  Rome,  issued  his  first  Encyclique 
Letter.  It  is  addressed  to  all  the  Patriarchs,  Primates,  Arch- 
bishops, and  Bishops  of  the  earth — and  gives  professedly  the 
authoritative  and  infallible  solutions  of  the  Pope,  of  the  difficul- 
ties which  then  and  still  beset  the  church.  In  this  ibrmal  docu- 
ment it  is  decided  amongst  other  things  :  1.  That  every  species 
of  novelty,  of  what  sort  soever,  or  in  reference  to  what  thing 
soever,  endangers  the  universal  church;  2.  That  the  fertile 
source  of  the  most  dreadful  evil  is  the  opinion  diffused  amongst 
men,  that  salvation  is  possible  out  of  the  doctrine  and  pale  of 
the  Roman  Catholic  church  ;  3.  That  one  of  the  most  "absurd 
and  erroneous,"  or  "  rather  deleterious  maxims"  which  flows  from 
the  horrid  indifferentism  of  the  preceding  principle,  "  is  that 
liberty  of  conscience  should  be  assured  and  guaranteed  to  all 
men  ;"  4.  That  from  the  same  source  flows  the  liberty  demanded 
with  such  ardour  and  tumult  by  many— "the  fatal  and  detest- 
able liberty  of  publishing  whatever  any  one  chooses  ;"  5.  That 
these  writings  thus  scattered  amongst  mankind,  inculcate  the 
horrible  absurdities,  that  it  is  lawful  to  revolt  against  the  princes, 


328  MEMORANDA    OF 

to  withdraw  our  fidelity  from  them,  and  to  subvert  thrones;  6. 
That  on  the  contrary,  "invariable  submission  to  princes"  is 
necessarily  and  universally  a  clear  precept  of  the  Christian  reli- 
gion; the  reverse  ol'  which  was  iu  former  ages,  never  taught 
except  by  the  "Vaudois,  the  Beguads,  the  Wiklifites,  and 
other  children  of  Belial,  who  were  the  scum  and  disgrace  of  the 
human  race,  and  who  have  been  so  often  and  so  justly  struck 
with  anathema  by  the  Apostolic  See;"  7.  That  the  interests  of 
kings  are  necessarily  promoted  by  all  their  acts  of  support  and 
succour  rendered  to  the  Papacy  ;  that  the  union  of  church  and 
state  has  been  in  all  ages  favourable  to  both — and  is  now  dis- 
turbed only  by  the  partizans  of  unbridled  liberty;  and  that  all 
Roman  Catholic  princes  are,  and  should  be  exhorted  to  promote 
by  their  assistance  and  authority  the  principles  and  wishes  ex- 
pressed in  this  present  letter. 

This  Encyclique  Letter  was  the  result  of  an  examination 
which  had  then  been  just  concluded,  into  the  writings  of  the 
Abbe  de  la  Mennais,  and  his  associates  ;  but  especially  into  the 
doctrines  and  scope  of  the  periodical  called  UJlvenir,  which 
commanded  so  much  attention  and  exerted  so  great  influence  at 
that  period,  in  France.  The  Cardinal  Barthelemi  Pacca,  in  a 
letter  dated  August  16,  1832,  addressed  from  Rome  to  the  Abbe 
de  la  Mennais,  enters  into  the  private  history  of  the  whole  cause  ; 
and  gives  some  cotemporary  and  authoritative  expositions  of  the 
Encyclique  itself— which  indeed  it  was  the  chief  object  of  his 
letter  to  transmit  to  the  Abbe,  by  the  Pope's  commraand.  In 
this  letter  the  cardinal,  by  the  express  order  of  the  Pope,  as  he 
asserts,  complains  to  the  Abbe,  amongst  other  things:  "  That  he 
had  entered  into  any  sort  of  digressions,  upon  subjects  whose 
decision  appertained  not  to  the  tribunal  of  the  public,  but  to 
that  of  the  government  of  the  church ;"  2.  That  the  "  Holy 
Father  disapproved,  and  even  forbade  his  doctrines  relative  to 
civil  liberty  and  politics,  doctrines  which  by  their  nature  could 
only  tend  lo  excite  and  propagate  sedition  and  revolt  on  the  part 
of  subjects  against  their  sovereigns ;"  3.  That  "  the  doctrines 
of  VJlvenir  in  regard  io  freedom  of  religion  and  freedom  of  the 
press^  were  equally  reprehensible,  and  in  opposition  to  the  doo- 


FOREIGN    TRAVEL.  329 

trines,  the  maxims,  and  the  practice  of  the  church ;"  4.  That 
the  Holy  Father  was  extremely  astonished  and  afflicted,  that 
any  Catholic  should  openly  avow  such  doctrines  ;  which  although 
in  certain  circumstances,  prudence  mif^ht  require  them  to  be 
tolerated,  as  the  least  of  several  evils,  should  never  be  repre- 
sented as  either  desirable  or  good  in  themselves  ;"  5.  That  "  the 
griefof  the  Holy  Father  was  rendered  complete,  by  the  proposal 
to  form  a  society  amongst  those  who  notwithstanding  the  butch- 
ery of  Poland,  the  dismemberment  of  Belgium,  and  the  conduct 
of  governments  which  call  themselves  liberal,  still  hoped  for  the 
liberty  of  the  world,  and  were  willing  to  labour  for  it." 

•'  On  the  8th  of  May,  1833,  and  in  the  third  year  of  his  pon- 
tificate," the  same  Gregory  XVI.  addressed  a  Brief  to  his  "  ven- 
erable brother,  Paul  Therese  David,  Archbishop  of  Toulouse" — 
in  the  course  of  which  he  says  he  "  had  published  the  sound 
doctrine,  which  alone  any  should  be  permitted  to  follow."  "Our 
Encyclique,"  he  adds,  "  has  been  received  every  where  with 
joy,  with  eagerness,  with  sentiments  of  veneration;  as  we  have 
been  assured,  with  expressions  of  gratitude,  both  by  bishops 
and  other  persons,  of  the  greatest  respectability  in  all  orders  of 
society." 

A  few  months  after  the  preceding,  the  Pope  despatched  another 
Brief,  dated  the  5th  of  October,  1833,  and  addressed  to  his  "Ven- 
erable brother  C.  L.,  Bishop  of  Rennes."  This  brief  was  in- 
tended for  the  Abbe  de  la  Mennais's  guidance  and  direction  in 
the  difficult  circumstances  in  which  he  found  himseHj  by  reason 
of  his  thorough  devotion  to  the  interests  of  the  Papacy  and  his 
equally  ardent  attachment  to  principles  of  liberty  and  humanity, 
which  he  found  loo  late,  were  intolerable  at  Rome.  He  had 
sent  an  humble  address  to  the  Pope,  through  the  hands  of  the 
Bishop  of  Rennes,  asking  the  commands  of  the  holy  father, 
"  We  have,"  the  Pope  answers,  "  but  one  single  thing  to  reply  ; 
it  is  that  he  shall  engage  to  follow  uniquely  and  absolutely  the 
doctrine  laid  open  in  our  Encyclique  Letter,  (in  which,  as  we 
can  say  with  Innocent  I.,  our  most  holy  predecessor,  we  have 
imposed  no  new  precepts,  but  those  which  have  been  established 
by  the  tradition  of  the  Apostles  and  Fathers,)  and  that  he  shall 
,    29* 


330  MEMORANDA  OF 

neither  write  nor  approve  any  thing  which  is  not  conformed  to 
this  doctrine." 

About  a  month  after  this,  we  find  Cardinal  Barthelemi  Pacca 
writing  to  the  Abbe,  by  the  Pope's  commands,  on  the  everlasting 
subject  of  the  Encyclical  Letter  of  iSS'i.  After  passing  in 
review  the  existing  circumstances  of  the  case,  he  says  that  noth- 
ing would  satisfy  the  most  holy  father,  but  a  declaration  "  simple, 
absolute^  and  unlimited,^'  that  he  believed  as  the  Encyclique 
taught,  and  rejected  what  it  prohibited. 

Just  a  month  after  this,  namely,  on  the  28th  of  December, 
1833,  the  Pope  despatched  a  Brief  to  his  "  dear  son  F.  la  Men- 
nais,"  acknowledging  the  receipt  of  "  the  humble  and  simple 
declaration"  which  had  been  so  long  demanded.  It  was  finally 
obtained  from  that  extraordinary  man.  In  this  Brief  the  Pope 
exhorts  him  so  to  employ  the  talents  and  knowledge  which  so 
eminently  distinguished  him,  "that  others  might  think  and 
speak,  unanimously,  according  to  the  doctrine  laid  down  in  our 
Encyclique." 

Things  stood  in  this  posture  for  about  six  months,  at  the  end 
of  which  time  the  Abbe  published  his  Words  of  a  Believer :  a 
work  which  he  declares  to  Uie  Archbishop  of  Paris,  in  a  letter 
dated  April  29,  1834 — is  exclusively  political,  and  designed  par- 
ticularly for  the  people  ;  and  that  its  only  object  was  to  plead 
the  cause  of  •'  political  aid  civil  liberty,"  and  to  enforce  upon  its 
friends  the  necessity  "  of  order,  law,  and  justice,"  in  the  prose- 
cution of  their  great  objects.  As  the  proceedings  of  the  Abbe 
and  his  friends,  had  furnished  the  occasion  for  the  Encyclique  of 
August  15th,  1832,  which  had  been  levelled  more  particularly  at 
the  ^venir ;  so  the  Words  of  a  Believer  produced  the  Ency- 
clique of  the  7th  of  the  calends  of  July,  1834,  in  the  fourth  year 
of  the  pontificate  of  Gregory  XVf. 

The  last  Encyclique  is,  if  possible,  more  pointed,  virulent,  and 
outrageous  than  the  first;  it  more  thoroughly  identifies  Rome 
with  the  cause  of  tyrants ;  and  more  completely  renounces  all 
sympathy  with  (he  wants,  the  sufferings,  the  aspirations,  the 
rights  of  the  great  bt)dy  of  mankind.  "  Venerable  brothers,  all 
the  patriarchs,  j^rimates,  archbishops  and  bishops,"  begins  this 


FOREIGN   TRAVEL.  331 

horrible  bulletin,  *'  we  have  experienced  a  most  lively  joy,  from 
the  signal  testimonies  of  faith,  obedience,  and  religion  with 
which,  we  have  been  informed,  our  Encyclique  Letter,  of  the 
15th  of  August,  1832,  has  been  every  where  eagerly  welcomed ; 
in  which,  to  acquit  ourselves  of  a  duty  imposed  by  our  charge, 
we  have  announced  to  the  universal  Catholic  flock,  the  sound 
doctrine,  which  alone  any  one  is  permitted  to  follow,  on  any  of 
the  points  there  treated." — "Venerable  Brothers,  we  Avere  seiz- 
ed with  horror,  at  the  first  coup-d-oeil  we  cast  over  this  book," 
(Words  of  a  Believer).  "  It  has  endeavoured  to  shake  and  to 
destroy  the  Catholic  doctrine,  such  as  we  have  defined  it  in  our 
Encyclique  already  cited,  both  in  regard  to  the  submission  due 
to  power,  and  in  regard  to  the  duty  to  turn  the  people  away 
from  the  pernicious  scourge  of  indifferentism,  and  to  put  a  curb 
upon  the  unbounded  freedom  of  opinion  and  of  speech  ;  and  in 
regard,  finally,  both  to  the  absolute  liberty  of  conscience,  a  lib- 
erty entirely  to  be  condemned,  and  to  that  horrible  conspiracy  of 
societies  for  the  ruin  of  the  church  and  the  state,  composed  of  all 
false  worships  and  sects."  "  Not  satisfied  with  an  audacity  even 
thus  great,  it  would  establish  by  force,  the  absolute  freedom  of 
opinion,  of  speech,  and  of  conscience."  ''  In  the  transports  of 
its  fury,  it  provokes  the  people  to  unite  and  associate  themselves 
in  all  parts  of  the  world,  and  without  ceasing  it  urges  and  press- 
es towards  the  accomplishments  of  its  pernicious  designs,  in  a 
manner  to  make  us  perceive  that  on  this  point  also,  it  tramples 
under  foot  both  our  advice  and  our  prescriptions."  "  It  is  a 
book,  in  short,  which  is  filled  with  propositions,  respectively  false, 
calumnious,  audacious,  anarchical,  contrary  to  tlie  word  of  God, 
impious,  scandalous,  erroneous,  already  condemned  by  the  church 
— and  especially  in  the  cases  of  the  Vaudois,  the  Wiklifites,  the 
Hussites,  and  other  similar  heretics ;"  and  therefore  the  most 
holy  father  having,  as  he  says,  heard  some  of  the  cardinals  of 
the  holy  Roman  church,  his  venerable  brothers,  and  on  his  own 
proper  motion,  of  his  certain  knowledge,  and  in  all  the  plenitude 
of  his  apostolic  power  "  reproves,  condemns,  and  desires  that  all 
shall  perpetually  hold  as  reproved  and  condemned,"  both  the 
book  and  its  propositions. 


332  MEMORANDA    OF 

I  will  add  but  one  more,  to  these  conclusive  extracts ;  but  one 
additional  Bull  to  those  already  proving  with  unanswerable  cer- 
tainty, the  league  of  Rome  with  all  that  is  at  work  to  degrade 
and  oppress  the  human  race.  In  the  month  of  July,  1832,  Pope 
Gregory  XVf.  addressed  a  Brief  to  the  bishops  of  Poland.  Po- 
land, heroic,  unfortunate,  illustrious  Poland — whose  name  is 
identified  with  all  that  is  noble  in  courage  and  constancy,  all 
that  is  grand  in  devoted  patriotism  and  love  of  liberty— all  that 
identifies  a  people  with  the  profound  interests  of  the  whole 
human  family,  and  demands  from  the  entire  race  the  tenderest 
sympathy  and  the  loftiest  veneration  !  In  the  midst  of  her 
murderous  struggle  against  the  most  forocious  tyranny  which 
modern  times  have  witnessed,  and  for  rights  which  every  nation 
in  Europe  had  guaranteed  by  solemn  compact,  and  which  every 
man  on  earth  if  the  case  be  made  his  own,  will  acknowledge  to 
be  precious  as  life  ;  in  such  a  crisis,  what  says  the  father  of  the 
faithful,  to  his  bleeding  children  ?  What  words  of  tenderness, 
consolation,  and  affect ion^  shall  his  lips  distil,  for  those  whose 
righteous  cause  is  perishing  amidst  the  tears  of  all  the  friends  of 
man,  and  whose  great  souls  are  overwhelmed  under  the  burden 
of  insupportable  misfortunes?  Hear  him;  ponder  his  words! 
•'Venerable  brothers,  the  Bishops  of  Poland  ;  health,  and  the 
apostolic  benediction.  We  have  been  informed  of  the  frightful 
misery  into  which  this  flourishing  kingdom  has  been  plunged 
during  the  past  year  ;  we  have  understood  at  the  same  time  that 
this  misery  has  been  caused  exclusively  by  the  plots  of  the 
malevolent,  who  in  these  unhappy  times  have  used  the  interest 
of  religion  as  a  pretext  for  conspiring  against  the  power  of  legit- 
imate sovereigns,  and  have  precipitated  their  country  into  an 
abyss  of  misery,  by  breaking  all  the  bands  of  legal  submission." 
*' Your  duty  obliges  you  to  watch  with  the  greatest  care,  lest 
these  evil-minded  men,  the  propagators  of  false  doctrines,  spread 
amongst  your  flocks  the  germ  of  corrupt  and  deceitful  theories. 
These  men,  making  /eal  for  the  public  good  their  pretext,  abuse 
the  creduhty  of  the  simple,  who  in  their  blindness  serve  as 
instruments  for  troubling  the  peace  of  the  kingdom  and  over- 
throwing the  established  order.    It  is  necessary  for  the  benefit 


FOREIGN    TRAVEL.  333 

and  honour  of  the  disciples  of  Jesus  Christ  that  the  perfidy  and 
wickedness  of  such  prophets  of  lies  should  be  placed  in  their  true 
light.  It  is  necessary  to  refute  their  fallacious  principles,  by  the 
immutable  word  of  Scripture,  and  by  authentic  monuments  of 
the  tradition  of  the  church.  These  pure  sources,  from  which 
the  Catholic  clergy  should  draw  the  principles  of  their  actions 
and  of  the  instructions  which  they  give  the  faithful,  make  clearly 
manifest  that  submission  to  power  instituted  by  God,  is  an  im- 
mutable principle,  from  which  no  one  can  ever  withdraw  himself, 
except  when  the  power  violates  the  laws  of  God,  or  of  the 
CHURCH  !"  "  Your  magnanimous  Emperor  will  receive  you  with 
bounty,  and  will  hear  our  representations  and  our  prayers,  con- 
cerning the  interests  of  the  Catholic  religion,  which  he  has 
always  promised  to  protect  in  this  kingdom.  Certainly  reason- 
able  people  will  commend  you,  and  your  enemies  will  be  forced 
to  keep  silence." 

For  this  Bull,  Nicholas,  the  Emperor  of  Russia,  put  at  the 
disposal  of  Gregory  XVI.,  Pope  of  Rome,  a  column  of  Russian 
soldiers — and  guaranteed  the  integrity  of  his  temporal  power. 
At  least  so  says  the  Abbe  de  la  Mennais,  in  his  late  work  entitled 
Affaires  de  Rome.  The  thing  which  imports  us,  is  the  fact 
rather  than  ihe  motive  of  the  Bull. 

Then  we  assert  that  the  Papacy  has  declared  its  cause  to  be 
indissolubly  united  with  that  of  despotism.  It  has  staked  its 
infallibility — it  has  invoked  the  Scriptures,  the  fathers,  and  its 
own  constant  principles,  maxims,  and  traditions — and  has  made 
its  fate  the  fate  of  the  oppressors  of  the  earth  ! 

Since  the  15th  day  of  August,  1832,  till  this  hour,  not  a  whis- 
per has  been  heard  from  any  part  of  the  earth,  calling  in  ques- 
tion these  horrible  profanities,  on  the  part  of  one  single  Papal 
bishop  or  high  ecclesiastic !  The  universal  Roman  Catholic 
and  apostolical  church,  is  therefore  delivered  over,  finally  and 
forever,  to  an  alHance  with  the  workers  of  every  dark  deed 
against  freedom,  knowledge,  and  civilization  ! 

Now  will  the  nations  renounce  their  hopes,  their  light,  their 
convictions,  their  assured  triumph — and  of  free  will  put  on  again 
the  chains  they  have  already  broken,  and  bow  meekly  lor  the 


334  MEMORANDA  OF 

tripple  fastening  of  those  which  have  already  eaten  inio  the 
bone  ?  Will  they  do  this  at  the  command  of  a  voice  impotent 
as  it  is  unlovely ;  and  which  scarcely  heard  above  the  noise  of 
the  falling  sepulchres  around  its  habitation,  could  not  so  far 
arrest  the  attention  of  the  world,  that  half  mankind  were  con- 
scious it  had  spoken  ? 

Or  rather,  is  it  not  certain  that  Rome  has  fortified  herself  so 
impregnably,  that  she  cannot  sally  forth  from  a  position  where 
she  must  finally  die  in  solitary  scorn — despised,  abhorred  by  the 
world  she  had  so  long  betrayed,  and  which  she  finally  conspired 
to  sacrifice  ? 

At  this  moment  the  solitary  cord  which  binds  the  most  devoted 
Papal  communities  to  the  priesthood  and  the  church,  is  a  belief 
in  their  official  sanctity  and  authority.  Their  religious  doctrines 
are  refuted  by  the  senses,  and  are  incapable  of  belief;  their 
political  code  is  contradicted  by  the  consciousness  of  every 
human  being,  and  draws  in  its  train  the  surrender  of  every 
right,  privilege,  enjoyment,  and  ornament  of  human  nature. 
Yet  they  who  demand  these  unspeakable  sacrifices,  so  far  from 
having  any  personal  claims  to  superior  holiness,  intelligence,  or 
excellence  ;  are  rarely  respected  for  their  virtues,  often  abhorred 
for  the  injuries  they  have  inflicted.  The  action  of  such  a  sys- 
tem while  it  endures,  is  replete  with  misery  ;  and  its  nature  is 
such  that  when  it  terminates,  it  must  be  by  convulsion.  If  men 
can  be  persuaded  that  God  has  in  reality  selected  from  amongst 
them  as  his  sole  representatives,  those  who  are  distinguished 
chiefly  by  the  turpitude  of  their  principles,  the  unreasonableness 
of  their  dogmas,  and  the  looseness  of  their  conduct ;  it  will  be 
utterly  in  vain  to  persuade  them  at  the  same  time,  that  God  re^ 
quires  of  themselves  other  and  better  things.  But  we  should 
never  cease  to  remember  that  nature  is  a  revelation  from  God, 
as  real  as  any  ;  and  that  it  was  in  knowledge  as  well  as  holiness, 
he  created  man  after  his  own  image.  The  dictates  of  nature 
and  the  teachings  of  enlightened  reason,  must  be  coincident 
with  all  subsequent  revelations  of  the  mind  of  God  ;  or  if  they 
be  not,  nature  must  hush  her  giant  energies  to  silence,  and  glo» 


FOREIGN    TRAVEL.  335 

rious  reason  sleep  upon  her  shininf^  throne — before  we  are  capa- 
ble of  hearinc^  the  pretended  voice  of  heaven  ! 

The  Papal  system,  belongs  to  the  midnight  of  the  world.  By 
a  fatal  but  unerring  instinct,  it  has  united  itself  so  indissolubly 
to  most  of  tlie  capital  evils  which  have  afflicted  mankind,  that 
while  society  cannot  complete  its  perfect  developement  until  it  is 
destroyed,  it  will  carry  with  it  in  its  final  overthrow,  most  of 
the  obstacles  to  ihat  great  and  blessed  necessity. 


336  MEMORANDA    OF 


CHAPTER   XXXV. 


Departure  from  Nice— Anti-Chamber  of  ihe  Commandant  of  Sardinian  Gendarme- 
rie—The Waldenses  of  the  Cottienn  Alps. 


Within  an  hour  after  feaving  Nice  we  had  passed  the  Pojit 
de  Var,  and  were  in  France.  Disappointed  in  our  expectation 
of  finding  a  communication  by  steam  boat,  established  between 
that  city  and  the  more  southern  parts  of  Italy;  we  had  no 
alternative  but  to  retrace  our  steps,  seeking  to  reach  Rome  by 
land,  or  to  go  forward  as  far  as  Marsaille,  and  embark  there, 
the  latier  was,  as  we  had  every  reason  to  hope,  an  open  route, 
by  which  we  might  reach  Naples  within  eight  or  ten  days  ;  and 
for  these,  as  well  as  on  other  accounts  we  preferred  to  advance. 

At  Nice  we  found  an  American  consul,  who  added  the  name 
of  our  only  remaining  domestic  to  our  own  on  the  back  of  my 
passport;  and  we  passed  the  barrier,  having  experienced  for  the 
twentieth  time  a  civility  on  the  part  of  custom  house  officers, 
for  which  the  world  gives  them  little  credit.  1  am  sorry  to 
make  an  exception  to  a  fact  so  general,  in  the  case  of  some  of 
the  Sardinian  functionaries.  I  have  already  spoken  of  those  at 
Turin ;  at  Nice  they  were  not  less  offensive,  though  probably 
less  directly  criminal.  In  every  part  of  Europe  in  which  I  had 
been,  except  this  kingdom,  the  personal  attendance  of  travellers 
is  not  required  at  the  bureaus  ;  the  passport  sent  by  the  hands 
of  another — generally  a  person  who  makes  a  profession  and  a 
living  out  of  such  little  offices,   being  deemed  sufficient.    At 


FOREIGN    TRAVEL.  337 

Turin  and  Nice,  every  thing  must  be  done  in  person.  At  the 
htter  place  I  called  to  get  the  last  signature  to  my  passport — 
being  that  of  the  Commandant  of  the  Gendarmerie  of  the  de- 
partment, pretty  early  on  the  morning  I  left  the  city.  The  small 
anti-room  was  full — and  amongst  the  assembly,  if  I  might  except 
myself,  and  a  tremendous  Turk,  there  was  not  another  person 
who  was  not  both  ragged  and  filthy.  Some  were  persons  of  the 
poorest  sort,  from  the  adjoining  parts  of  France ;  some  were 
Italian  sailors  and  their  wretched  female  companions;  many  were 
subjects  of  the  king  of  Sardinia,  seeking  permission  to  go  from 
one  of  his  states  to  another,  or  possibly  to  leave  his  kingdom. 
The  contrast  between  the  wretchedness  of  these  miserable 
beings,  and  the  sleek  and  pampered  insolence  of  the  slaves  hired 
to  watch  them,  and  in  whose  presence  we  all  stood  awaiting 
their  good  pleasure  to  go  about  our  lawful  business,  and  digest- 
ing as  we  might  their  habitual  impertinence ;  was  strong  and 
painful  in  a  high  degree.  The  Turk  got  tired  of  the  scene, 
rose  up  from  a  bench  on  which  he  was  reclining,  stuffed  a  hand- 
ful of  phials  of  perfumes  into  his  bosom,  and  marching  up  to  the 
wicker  door  which  separated  the  office  from  the  anti-chamber, 
rammed  a  thick  bundle  of  ragged  papers  through  it,  and  left 
the  room.  They  seemed  to  be  ship's  papers.  Perhaps  he  had 
just  entered  port.  The  men  in  authority  looked  at  him  in  silence, 
and  with  perfect  contempt ;  and  the  crowd  gazed  listlessly  after 
him  as  he  stalked  slowly  offl  I  concluded  I  would  follow  the 
Turk's  movement,  only  inversely :  so  I  walked  up  to  the  wicker 
and  demanded  my  passport  in  broad  English.  As  nobody  under- 
stood me,  they  all  looked  up.  1  then  repeated  the  demand  in 
French.  After  much  hesitation  and  a  long  trial  to  memorize  my 
name,  and  then  a  hunt  after  the  passport,  it  was  produced. — 
Then  came  fifty  questions.  Where  had  I  come  from  ?  I  show- 
ed them  the  last  visa  of  the  Sardinian  police,  which  was  an 
official  answer.  Where  was  I  going?  To  Rome.  Then  f 
must  take  my  passport  to  the  representative  of  his  holiness  and 
get  his  signature,  before  they  could  do  any  thing.  1  pointed  to 
the  proper  signature  and  seal.  The  passport  was  in  English, 
which  was  a  dead  letter  to  the  querist;  and  hence  another  series 
Vol.  u.— so 


338  MEMORANDA    OF 

of  interrogatories.  What'[countryman  was  I  ?  I  told  him.-* 
Then  it  was  necessary  for  me  to  get  our  consul's  visa.  I 
pointed  to  it  on  the  back  of  the  passport.  He  read  it,  being  in 
French,  and  as  it  stated  that  the  persons  named  were  going  to 
France,  whereas  I  had  said  to  Rome,  another  cross-questioning 
became  necessary.  You  must  have  the  visa  of  the  French 
Consul.  There  it  is  ;  I  go  to  Rome  by  way  of  Marseille.  In 
short,  every  thing  was  as  it  should  be,  but  still  nothing  could  be 
done. 

At  length  another  person  salHed  out  from  an  inner  apartment, 
and  taking  the  case  in  hand,  settled  it  at  once.  It  appeared 
that  the  first  interrogater  had  no  other  object  but  to  prolong  the 
discourse  indefinitely,  with  me  and  all  others,  till  the  veritable 
Simon  Pure  saw  fit  to  attend  to  his  business  ;  and  as  he  had  not 
been  so  moved  for  several  hours,  about  a  dozen  such  scenes  as  I 
have  described  had  transpired.  The  Turk  understood  the  mat-» 
ter  sooner  than  I  did,  and  bolted.  The  poor  wretches  around 
us  seemed  to  take  it  in  complete  earnest  to  the  last,  and  as  many 
as  had  passed  through  the  hands  of  the  calechist  appeared  in 
despair  as  to  their  prospects,  A  woman  with  three  little  chil- 
dren stood  near  the  door,  ejaculating  French  imprecations  upon 
herself  and  her  evil  lot.  1  put  a  trifle  into  the  hand  of  the  child 
nearest  to  me,  a  bright  faced  boy  of  six  years  old,  and  left  the 
room.  The  day  afterwards,  as  we  drove  along  the  shore  of  the 
sea,  twenty  miles  from  Nice,  I  saw  a  boy  get  up  behind  our 
carriage,  and  at  once  recognized  the  lad.  Did  you  ever  see  me 
before  ?  said  I.  Oh  !  Oui  Monsieur,  was  his  instant  reply. 
Where  ?  In  the  passport  office  at  Nice.  This  is  well,  thought  I. 
Who  knows  what  the  same  prompt,  observant,  and  perspicuous 
spirit  may  do  towards  surmounting  the  ills  of  poverty,  and  the 
evils  of  a  state  of  society  so  infinitely  unnatural  ?  He  had  come 
from  the  opposite  side  of  France,  with  his  mother  and  Httle  sisters, 
on  foot,  on  a  visit  to  their  relatives,  after  their  fall  labours  were 
finished  ;  and  were  now  returning  home.  This  is  well  too :  for 
after  all,  it  is  the  ties  of  blood  that  bind  us  most  tenderly  and 
ndissolubly  to  each  other;  and  that  hearti  s  open  to  all  kind 
and  good  impressions,  which  beats  strongly  under  the  power  o  i' 


FOREIGN    TRAVEL.  339 

this  great  sentiment.  I  shall  never  see  thai  boy  nn)re  ;  i  shall 
never  know  him,  even  if  we  should  be  attain  jostled  together  in 
the  short  journey  of  life.  But  it  pleases  me  to  recall  his  look  of 
ready  and  affectionate  recognition ;  and  I  count  it  a  mercy  to 
have  had  the  chance,  by  a  kind  word,  and  a  small  token,  to 
quicken  the  power  of  human  sympathy  in  his  youni]^  heart: 
and  that  too  at  a  moment  when  it  was  ready  to  burst. 

Before  taking  our  leave  of  Italy,  there  is  one  subject  which 
should  on  no  account  be  omitted.  In  the  Alps  of  Piedmont, 
lying  behind  Susa  as  you  enter  Italy  over  Mont  Cenis,  and  to 
the  right  hand  of  Pinerolo  as  you  go  from  Turin  to  Nice,  in  the 
deepest  recesses  of  the  Cottienn  Alps,  lies  concealed  one  of  the 
most  interesting  communities  that  exists  on  earth.  Shut  up  ia 
the  rugged  bosom  of  the  mountains  is  a  little  band  of  Waldenses 
— the  direct  descendents  of  those  ancient  and  persecuted  men, 
who  at  such' terrible  cost,  and  amidst  such  frightful  darkness, 
kept  the  light  of  truth  burning  steadily  and  quenchlessly. — 
Sprung  from  an  antiquity  so  remote  and  so  clearly  established 
even  by  their  enemies  and  persecutors,  that  none  can  disprove 
the  tradition  which  unites  them  to  the  apostles  of  the  Lord  ; 
luminously,  gloriously  recorded  for  seven  hundred  years,  in  the 
curses  of  the  books  of  the  enemies  of  God  ;  through  every  cen- 
tury of  which  their  blood  has  attested  their  intrepid  sincerity, 
and  the  anathemas  of  Rome  made  manifest  the  purenessof  their 
faith.  Driven  into  these  inaccessible  fastnesses,  by  the  keen 
sword  of  the  crusader,  and  the  gibbet  of  the  fierce  inquisitor, 
they  "  of  whom  the  world  was  not  worthy,"  have  preferred  the 
*'dens  and  caves  of  the  earth"  to  palaces  stained  with  the 
blood  of  God's  saints  ;  and  have  chosen  rather  to  be  "destitute, 
iorsaken,  afflicted,"  than  to  make  "  a  covenant  with  death,"  and 
"  be  at  agreement  with  hell." 

There  are  three  principal  vallies  inhabited  by  these  interest- 
ing people.  The  valley  of  Lucerna  is  the  most  southerly,  and 
lies  under  the  august  form  of  Mont  Viso.  Farther  to  the  north, 
and  just  behind  the  village  of  La  Perosa  are  the  vallies  of  San 
Martino  and  Sesane.  The  torrent  from  which  the  last  named 
valley  takes  its  name,  rises  under  Mont  Genievre,  near  Briancon. 


340  MEMORANDA    OF 

In  the  region  of  the  first  named  valley  is  Mont  Vaudalin,  on 
whose  summit  is  the  cavern  which  afforded  shelter  to  the  feeble 
remnants  of  the  persecuted  Vaudois,  in  their  times  of  sorest 
need.  In  the  same  district  is  Pre-du-Tour,  the  ancient  seminary 
of  the  Vaudois  pastors,  before  the  reformation.  In  the  valley  of 
San  Martino  is  situated  the  defile  of  Bolsille,  so  famous  in  the 
wars  of  this  heroic  people. 

The  three  vallies  are  divided  into  thirteen  parishes,  which 
embrace  all  the  villages  and  numerous  hamlets.  There  are  at 
present  settled  pastors  in  all  these  parishes  :  and  I  have  thought 
it  not  uninteresting  to  give  their  names.  They  are,  Messrs. 
Mondon,  Best,  (moderator  of  the  Presbytery,)  Goante,  Gay, 
Mouston,  (secretary,)  Peyrot,  Monaslier,  Monnet,  Vincon,  Talla, 
Rostaing,  the  father,  (adjunet  moderator,)  Rostaing,  the  son, 
Peyran.  The  population  of  the  thirteen  parishes  is  about 
21,500  souls,  of  whom  1,783  are  Papists.  The  increase  must 
be  very  slow;  as  the  total  population  was  stated  by  De  Thou, 
at  15,000,  in  1560. 

From  the  period  of  the  reformation  less  has  been  known  of 
these  retired  and  humble  disciples  than  could  have  been  wished, 
and  far  less  interest  felt  in  them,  than  their  past  history  deserved. 
They  seem  indeed  to  have  been  set  as  a  sort  of  spectacle  for 
the  world  ;  for  not  only  were  they  objects  of  relentless  persecu- 
tion for  ages  before  the  reformation,  but  at  every  crisis  since, 
whenever  that  sword  has  been  unsheathed,  it  has  fallen  with  the 
most  unpitying  edge  upon  them.  Nay,  even  where  prudence 
required  that  the  rights  of  other  protestants  should  be  respected 
— or  their  power  was  sufficient  to  vindicate  itself— these  weak 
and  unpitied  victims  were  often  made  to  bear  the  two-fold  bit- 
terness of  a  malignity  rendered  iurious  by  repression.  Nor  is  it 
alone  from  those  whose  religious  principles  inculcate  persecution 
as  a  sacred  duty,  that  these  unhappy  mountaineers  have  suffer- 
ed wrong.  Some  of  their  own  pastors  seem  to  have  been  im- 
bued to  a  considerable  degree  with  the  same  woful  spirit  of  de- 
clenfiion,  which  during  the  last  century,  carried  away  all  the 
world;  and  the  true  knowledge  of  spiritual  things  remaining 
amongst  that  body,  was  leeble  and   ready  to  perish.    Edu- 


FOREIGN    TRAVEL.  341 

cated  at  Geneva,  they  imbibed  the  spirit  which  had  supplanted 
the  spirit  of  Christ  there  ;  and  the  pastors  of  the  Vaudois  whose 
ancestors  for  countless  generations  had  given  up  all  for  Christ, 
themselves  had  almost  given  him  up ;  and  they  who  had  been 
always  persecuted,  became  enemies  of  the  followers  of  Jesus 
amongst  their  own  flocks !  In  short,  they  were  to  a  lamentable 
extent  Arians  ;  and  just  not  persecutors. 

That  wonderful  man  of  God,  Felix  NefF,  during  his  residence 
in  the  neighbouring  districts  of  the  high  Alps  of  France,  visited 
these  secluded  vallies.  He  spent  a  few  weeks  only  in  the  scat- 
tered villages  and  hamlets.  But  God  was  with  him,  and  those 
feeble  labours  were  the  beginning  of  a  work  of  grace,  which 
with  more  or  less  power  has  extended  through  all  the  churches 
of  the  Vaudois  in  Piedmont.  Many  of  the  pastors  are  believed 
to  be  converted  to  God ;  others  are  less  decidedly  opposed  to 
evangelical  religion  ;  and  the  whole  body  is  said  to  be  gradually 
but  decidedly  tending  towards  the  right  way.  Meanwhile  many 
of  the  people  are  already  in  advance  of  some  of  their  pastors,  in 
the  knowledge  of  spiritual  things,  and  filled  with  an  eager  desire 
for  the  return  of  the  entire  flock  to  the  good  old  paths  in  which 
their  fathers  trod,  and  found  peace  even  amidst  the  furnace  of 
affliction.  In  Italy  itself,  the  land  of  darkness  and  of  blood, 
God  hath  not  left  himself  without  a  witness.  And  it  is  striking 
to  observe  that  at  the  moment  and  in  the  degree  that  the  cause 
of  his  enemies  waxes  feeble,  his  children  come  forth  clothed  anew 
in  vestments  borrowed  from  the  skies,  and  shining  with  the  light 
of  heaven. 

Mankind  should  never  cease  to  remember  that  the  "  fell  and 
savage  cruelty"  as  Oliver  Cromwell  truly  described  the  con- 
duct of  the  Duke  of  Savoy  to  his  Vaudois  subjects,  interests  us 
all  nearly  as  much  as  it  does  those  presently  exposed  to  it.  For 
says  Oliver  most  truly,  in  one  of  those  noble  epistles  which  he 
addressed  to  all  the  principal  powers  of  Europe,  on  the  occasion 
of  that  persecution  of  the  Waldenses  of  Piedmont  which  occur- 
red during  his  protectorate;  "although  this  fell  and  savage 
cruelly  first  began  upon  those  poor  and  helpless  people,  it  threat- 
ens all  that  profess  the  same  religion."    Nor  is  his  inference  less 


342  MEMORANDA    OF 

clear  and  indisputable,  that  this  fact  "  imposes  upon  all  a  greater 
necessity  of  providing  for  themselves  in  general,  and  consulting 
the  common  safety."  The  great  interests  of  liberty  and  religion 
are  the  same  every  where  and  at  every  period ;  and  so  also  are 
the  designs  as  well  as  the  cruelty  and  crimes  of  tyrants.  But 
of  all  tyrants,  those  who  profess  to  act  by  immediate  revelation 
from  God,  and  therefore  to  act  infallibly,  are  the  most  danger- 
ous to  the  human  race — the  most  to  be  dreaded  and  abhorred. 
How  much  of  the  honour  of  Cromwell's  remarkable  and  noble 
interposition  lor  his  "  exterminated  and  indigent  brethren,"  as 
he  tenderly  called  them,  is  to  be  credited  to  Milton,  who  was 
then  his  private  secretary  for  foreign  correspondence,  need  not 
be  too  curiously  inquired  into.  Milton's  feelings  may  be  easily 
understood  from  the  thrilling  verses,  with  v/hich  we  conclude,  at 
once,  the  subject  and  the  present  volume.  But  whatever  may 
be  said  of  Cromwell,  it  must  be  allowed  that  all  noble,  generous, 
manly,  and  Christian  impulses  could  never  have  been  strangers 
to  him,  who  was  the  kinsman  and  pupil  of  John  Hampden,  tlie 
patron,  guide,  and  father  of  Henry  Ireton ;  whose  favourite 
chaplain  was  John  Howe,  and  his  confidential  secretary  John 
Milton !  Immortal  names ;  whose  very  friendship  is  a  seal  and 
passport  to  the  world's  applause  ! 

Avenge,  O  Lord,  thy  slaughtered  saints,  whose  bones 

Lie  scatter'd  on  the  Alpine  mountains  cold ; 

Ev'n  them  who  kept  tliy  truth  so  pure  of  old, 

When  all  our  fathers  worshipt  stocks  and  stones. 
Forget  not :  in  thy  book  record  their  groans 

Who  were  thy  sheep,  and  in  their  ancient  fold 

Slain  by  the  bloody  Piemontese  that  roll'd 

Mother  with  infant  down  the  rocks.    Their  moans 
The  vales  redoubled  to  the  hills,  and  they 

To  H^av'n.    Their  martyr'd  blood  and  ashes  sow 

O'er  all  th'  Italian  fields,  where  still  doth  sway 
The  triple  Tyrant ;  tliat  from  these  may  grow 

A  hundred  fold,  who  having  leam'd  tby  way 

Barly  may  fly  the  Babylonian  woe. 


Princaton  Theological  Semma;,  M^^ ,|,|||| 


7 1012  00021   8166 


